2022-11-12 - The Book And Its Boy 2
| The Book And Its Boy 2 | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Fun abounds at the 'Starry Night'-themed party for the opening of a Sister Schools art show. But Yumi's friend Takahiro is uncharacteristically thoughtless, and Yumi's mother chides her for focusing on her friend instead of her own art. Takahiro and Michiru have a conversation about dreams. Rei and Hotaru have a conversation about the Moon. Raiko talks to Professor Croix for the first time, and her friend Cheiko for the first time in too long. Natsuki and Marinette tangle with Ishigami-sensei. | |
| Who: Yumi Ohzora, Rei Hino, Michiru Kaioh, Raiko Takashima, Natsuki Kuga, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Hotaru Tomoe, Takahiro Yamashita, Yukariko Sanada, Wataru Ishigami, Croix Meridies, Kimie Ohzora, Cheiko Otomo | |
| Where: Infinity Institute | |
| OOC - IC Date: 11/12/2022 - 01/26/2016 | |
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Infinity Institute +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
The inner wards of Tokyo boast most of its largest skyscrapers, but there is
an unusual exception. Located in Hachioji District, the Infinity Institute
is by far the largest building in Tama, and the second-largest skyscraper in
Tokyo. At 52 stories tall, its glass and stone the sort of primeval obsidian
that shimmers like oyster shell, Infinity is commonly supposed, by visitors,
to house some megacorporation, but there is only a scrap of truth to that.
Infinity is, in fact, a school, and what a school it is.
Offering a complete education from elementary to university, this daring new
charter school offers talented students a literal and figurative chance to
climb in the world: its vertical campus has students moving up a few floors
every year. Black metal monoliths with lighted white globes flank students
as they approach the entranceway, itself styled like an abstracted
grandfather clock, purplish glass panes forming an arch on the facade.
Within, a lushly austere atrium whispers water-sound from its great
fountain, beams of light slicing falling water elaborately. The atrium's
ceiling is five stories tall, and so many balconies and walkways are visible
as one stands on the violet carpeted black granite.
There is considerable variation between the fifty two floors, but the
unifying theme is one of sleek modernity. Heavy use of polished metal and
glass lend the building the feeling of an appliance freshly peeled of its
plastic coating. The walls are painted in cool tones of purple and deep
blue, and the accommodations are lavish, if stark. At times, the architects
even seem to have played artful little tricks, making a hallway appear too
long, or bend in a way that it does not. It is just a trick of the eye,
isn't it?
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
If this art opening were at Juuban, it wouldn't be called an "opening," just a club event; either the art would be in the art club room or, if there were too much, might spill over for one night to jostle for space with the bulletin boards, flyers, and posters on the hallways, or even over the blackboards. If someone desperately wanted a blank space badly enough they might cover the wall with a sheet. But it isn't.
If this art opening were at Ohtori, it would be in a hundred-year-old gallery that has hosted at least three times as many such shows in its history, yet despite being far older than Juuban Public, the Academy building would seem gleaming and new in comparison to the good-natured and well-kept but nevertheless crumbling municipal architecture. The light would spill from chandeliers that were themselves an installation created by some famous photographer to provide both a beautiful aesthetic and ideal lighting for the pieces below. There would be a string quartet playing classical music and real champagne. But it isn't.
This art opening is at Infinity. That means it's expensive but modern; and funded by new money, not old money, and in any case not students' money, as the charter school is tuition-free.
It's also cool as hell.
It's on the 41st floor, first of all, which is one of the floors that has a big exterior balcony, almost field-sized itself; though as it is January, the great glass doors leading out there are both closed and heavily draped with some deep blue curtains that both avoid the pollution of natural light (were it daytime, which it is not) and insulate against the considerable cold of the ceiling, which cannot touch anyone on the other side of all that velvet.
The space is very high-ceilinged -- one wonders if part of the floor above was given up to it, though no one can recall the layout of the 42nd especially missing a quarter-building's worth of area, so maybe not. For tonight's theme -- "Starry Night" a la Van Gogh, a theme more of the party than the art show itself; also a la Infinity, for whom the five-pointed star is the center of the school seal -- shadows have been allowed to congregate up there, out of which pour stars of every conceivable description. Some are paint on foam. Some are paper lanterns. Some are literal crystals, undoubtedly grown in a lab on campus and suspended from microwire so fine that they might as well be skyhooks. Hopefully they're really well secured, because yow, those crystals have a lot more than just five points and they look SHARP. None of these stars are extremely reflective however; by keeping their finish matte, they will not interrupt the lighting down below.
Said lighting is individual. Where Ohtori's gallery is ideal for every exhibit, Infinity has achieved the more laborious feat of creating something modular and customizable for every individual piece. It's pretty tough to do that for a short-term student show to any degree of museum quality, but still another club seems to have come up with digital wall surfaces with programmable light, and, perhaps more impressively, has the restraint to use it in collaboration with the artists to light their pieces ideally, rather than turning it into some kind of attention-screaming piece of its own. It IS an entry, but there's simply a black card with white sans-serif on it by the door, against the first of these portable walls, remarking on it as a collaboration between the Fine Art Club, Photography Club, and Computer Club.
The art itself is many and varied. Most are paintings, but there are a few pieces of statuary on pedastals, and other media as well, like tapestries and woodcuts. One nice thing Infinity did was pay to have everything framed (or given a stand) with a sleekly unifying style; the Ohtori entries might wind up ripping those straight off afterwards but for the Juuban artists it's a big deal, and in any case if the former did replace them it would only be out of spite, because it's been very well done. With portable walls sectioning out the space, it's a wide-pathed, surprisingly-not-very-claustrophobic, maze of art. Seen from above one would instantly recognize that the layout, too, spreads into the five points of the Infinity star at its furthest corners, but it's not impossible to realize over the course of a wandering on foot.
The artists themselves are spread out; some stand by their work while others circulate, depending on their motives and moods. The partygoers are mostly students, but there are a few parents and teachers. There are no school uniforms in sight; dressy but classy, not ostentatious, is the order of the evening, and not everyone rises equally to meet this goal but the overall vibe is sophisticated and pleasant.
At the center of the space are the most important tables: the food. The Infinity Culinary Program is catering, of course, and if a talking rabbit is the one alternatively barking orders, giving compliments, and delivering merciless criticism, nobody seems to find it unusual. Now that the show has started he's mostly in the background anyway. Everything on the display is star-shaped here too; it's sushi night, with a number of clever rolls and sashimi offerings. For the sushi-adverse there are also a very gourmet take on pizza rolls, which include some arrabiata, pesto and white sauce options. Water, juices, and sodas are on tap, but the sparkling wine is really pear cider and non-alcoholic. This does not seem like a downgrade to any but the very oldest students, and even they are likely to be won over by its quality -- it was pressed by the Infinity Vintner Club last year, and has been aging in oak barrels ever since.
If there is a singular host to this event it would probably be the Art Club's faculty advisor, who is said to be very hands-off and willing to let the students do whatever they want, very free with the purse-strings to pay for whatever they want, and yet also, whenever actually engaged for an opinion or idea, a bountiful source of both with an apparently endless level of depth of knowledge and earnest interest in the arts, which might not be expected from someone who is basically STEM. Recent hire Croix Meridies is wearing black leather pants that might be a little tighter than regulations would allow (there are no regulations, but her simple existence makes it feel like there are and that she is skirting their line) and a flowing red silk shirt that isn't at all a peasant blouse, with its sharp-edged and popped collar, but is somehow reminiscent of one. She wears her pale violet hair short and sharp, undercut on the sides. She is finishing a thoughtful conversation with an artist about their piece and starting to walk on to the next.
<SoundTracker> Dancing On My Own - Vitamin String Quartet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjkXxvsxjAs
It sounds like a string quartet is playing pop music covers somewhere. So maybe not EVERYTHING is different; Ohtori did hire Vitamin String Quartet for their last masquerade ball, after all, though it is unlike Infinity to play second fiddle through imitation. But this isn't a ball, and there's no dancing per se, just an soft and unobtrusive background to the conversations spilling around the place like an overturned bucket of shooting stars.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
It's a beautiful event! Yumi Ohzora has been to a number of these, but it never gets old to see her and her friends' work on display. Sure, she's not starstruck by it, but it makes her feel good. She started the night feeling good.
Her art is on display with the others, and the lighting sets it off perfectly. Yumi paints landscapes, primarily, and they are large and intense. There are a number, but three are most prominent today. One is of a beautiful forest location, an ancient building draped in ivy and surrounded by trees. One is a crashing wall of water, a flood approaching some unseen place, and it is so real as to nearly leap from the page. A castle ablaze, though the architecture cannot be placed to anything in Earth's known history. Perhaps she made it up.
She is currently talking to a couple of teachers who are not her faculty advisor, dressed in green; a lovely dress in a pale color, in flats because of course she's in flats, given her great height and poor balance. The dress is sleeveless, and the thin scarf she wears with it gives her the effect of something ethereal; Yumi would never call herself particularly graceful, but she looks it, tonight.
But there are other paintings. Yumi smiles to her teachers and gives a small bow before, "But I wanted to look in on one. Excuse me..."
She starts to approach another part of the display.
<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
If this opening were at Ohtori, Rei Hino would probably be more tense than she is, here. In a classic red dress, white polka-dot sash pulled about her waist with a big bow behind her, she manages to be sleek while still retaining enough youthful playfulness to avoid being accused of overdressing. (Her heels, of course, are a deeper ruby red.) A red and white spotted bow is clipped to one side of her raven-black hair, to match; her hair is down, but pinned back with those accessories enough that no one can accuse her of doing no work at all.
Really, it's the Ohtori style to put very much work into looking like one didn't put much work in at all.
She carries with her a camera -- a polaroid of an older style, large and clunky enough that it couldn't possibly be mistaken for digital. It hangs from her neck by a leather strap which has clearly seen both rain and shine, because photography is one of Rei's many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many talents. Of course she wants to capture the art exhibit, and the people who worked so hard to make it happen!
And so, when Yumi starts to walk from her artworks, she calls out, "Wait, wait! Keep standing there a second! Aaand...!!" Raising her camera up, she CLICKS a photo of Yumi in her graceful greens, in front of the landscapes she's created.
Rei raises a hand in a peace sign as she lowers her camera, and then retrieves the photo, bustling over to Yumi as she waits for it to dry. "You've got to capture the artist with the art," she says, cheerfully, as she matches Yumi's speed. "Here -- take a look."
By the time she hands the polaroid over, it ought to have resolved into a portrait of Yumi against her works.
<Pose Tracker> Michiru Kaioh [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
Michiru Kaioh is here. Surprise the first: She is not playing the violin. She has not even brought her violin - though as a student of this school (though it can, at times, seem a little hard to believe, with her air of maturity and elegance) she surely has it not so far away, if the spirit moved her.
Surprise the second: she is standing with a collection of artworks. Not too many; the most prominent, or most easily seen one, which she stands near, is a rectangular canvas easily the size of a dining-room table. The canvas seems to bear an image of a space scene, a living black at its base which has been anointed with nebular hues and whose central frame seems to be nothing more nor less than an immense WHALE; swimming, with elegance and grace, through the stars, great fins spread and tail raised in a posture of swiftness and surety that detracts not a single mote from its grace.
Perhaps the whale is the third surprise? It isn't quite clear.
Either way, Michiru is sipping from one of the glasses of pear cider, a single arm folded loosely as she gazes outwards. Alone, for the moment, and watching; such moments do come for everyone, and they are not to be despised.
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko took a deep breath as she approached the entrance to the art show. It was the first school event that wasn't mandatory in some form that she had attended in... a few years. She almost didn't come tonight, but... Yumi had invited her. And she didn't want to let her down, after everything the older girl had done for her. (Even then, it was a close thing: she was working on a new enchantment, an actually important one this time, and it took Shiori nudging her and reminding her that it was safely warded at home to convince her to come.)
Still, that meant potentially running into a lot of people that... might have opinions of her, but... the old her wuold've come, and she wants so badly to start being the person she wants to be, even if it's going to be hard, and so... She finds herself at the entrance. And with another deep breath, she stepped inside.
Raiko is dressed in a simple and sleek dark blue dress that runs down to her ankles, with a matching shawl over her shoulders to help keep her a little warm. A matching purse and and a pair of flats complete the ensemble. Her hair is done up in a braided bun that could probably stand to be redone--she's not on speaking terms with the friend who used to be really good with that stuff, sadly, but she did her best.
As she steps into the show she starts to take in everything--she notes the placard with the programmable wall lights, spending a moment to look them over and figure out how they work. The sky decorations also garner her interest, especially those crystals--did they get grown with a matte finish or was that added after? That's a question ticking away in the back of her mind for a while as she wanders through the show, looking for her friend--
"Raiko-chan?"
--and finds a different one instead. Raiko pauses, and then turns slowly to see a girl her own age--bright pink hair (done up in a far more elaborate bun than Raiko was able to manage), bright green eyes, a sparkly red dress. She's standing near some art that did elect to indulge in the theme of the show, after a fashion--with several cityscapes set at night, one with what is definitely a magical girl scouring the rooftops, another with a couple taking a romantic walk near a river, and several others along similar themes. All could be ripped straight from a manga--as befits Cheiko Otomo, an aspiring mangaka of Infinity's Art Club--though all are in far more elaborate detail (and experimenting with different materials) than might be found on the printed page.
"Oh, um, Hi, Cheiko-chan," said Raiko awkwardly. "I didn't know you'd be here..."
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
This was the kind of event Natsuki would bother to come to. However, her art teacher made it very clear she had to make some effort in her report of modern art or she would fail her for the whole semester. Natsuki didn't normally bother about her school work, but the teacher hinted of Natsuki being out right kicked out of the school unless she showed some interest in her work. She couldn't afford to be kicked out of school or her cover would be ruined, so here she was taking in some 'art' so she could toss in a report and get out of trouble, not caring the least said show was at a rival school
Natsuki wore a slimming blue dress, with a light blue short jacket over her shoulders.
Natsuki held her purse as she glanced around the artwork. She wasn't sure how she was suppose to feel, but she had to admit they were pretty to look at.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Ohtori's art club advisor is also here, Wataru Ishigami-sensei. Very tall and very handsome (more a prerequisite for students than teachers on that campus, but not frowned upon for anyone), he is attracting a certain amount of female admiration from the Juuban and Infinity crowds who haven't had the pleasure of his company before. His suit is a little ill-fitting, in the distracted artist way rather than the cheap way, and his glasses catch the light often. He is paying more attention to the painters than anyone else -- painting is his own passion, and he's known to ask students to model for him -- except for... well, surely she's not his DATE, but Ohtori's chapel nun-slash-student-counselor, Yukariko Sanada, is also present and he never seems to neglect her for long. She is not in full regalia, though her head is modestly covered by a white scarf; someone (Wataru) convinced her to show up to this shindig in an actual dress (short but not quite scandalous; sleek; shimmering; black). She looks great, and also desperately uncomfortable -- should have stuck to what she knows. She's not so self-conscious that she can't talk to people, though, and has effusive compliments for every artist, even if her appreciation is very amateur.
There is the faintest vibe that Wataru doesn't like Croix very much; he's been avoiding her all night. Maybe he's just jealous. He's one of the primary art INSTRUCTORS at Ohtori as well as club advisor, and she's a science teacher or something, so her apparently effortless success at her first event might be a mite bit intimidating. Or maybe not. He's here for the students, after all.
"Kuga," he greets in passing, the self-same teacher who basically forced her to be here tonight. "Good to see you."
It so happens they were just stopping in front of Michiru's space whale.
"Stunning," gushes the Sister, the stars in her eyes too wide to be easily displaced by the ones in the painting.
"Indeed," agrees Wataru, while staring straight at Michiru herself.
<Pose Tracker> Marinette Dupain-Cheng [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
The greatest challenge for Marinette for tonight's event was what in the world to wear.
She didn't personally have any submissions to the gorgeous gallery; while tapestries and the like might be considered fine art, most of the fiber arts are sadly not. Marinette's own artistic energy, of late, has gone to that ephemeral art form known as 'clothing', and while she's proud of what she can accomplish she's well aware that it's not the star of the show here.
However...she has friends involved in other artistic forms, and those friends wanted something nice for the evening, and by the time she finished refittings and adjustments it came to pass that she was asked to come along for moral support, so she had to pick out something for herself, but she didn't want to upstage-
Suffice to say, finding something from her closet that was complete, appropriate for the event, and capable of making a point of her own took a while.
Marinette is late arriving to the gala, slipping in through the door as a swarm of students descend on the starry pizza rolls. For a moment, she's overwhelmed by the aesthetic of the entire event, the combination of the lighting and the myriad stars dangling from above. It's amazing - it's stunning - but she sets her shoulders, and strides in.
In the end, her clothing choice wasn't ostentatious. A quaint little pink cardigan rests on her shoulders (one she knitted herself), and her dress is a white one with a long skirt and hand-embroidered flowers running up one side. An original Dupain-Cheng piece, one that took a fair amount of effort to make - but not one destined to be hung on display at an event like this.
She's just making a little bit of a point.
She wanders over to the photography displays first, marvelling at some of the innovative vistas of Tokyo, before looking for familiar faces. It takes a moment - but she spies one person she knows, snapping a photo with...
Marinette approaches Rei and Yumi. "...that's a classic, senpai. Do you have any displays on photo - er, photos on display..." She smiles at the artist who was just photographed, and bows slightly. "Ah - a pleasure to meet you. What, um, kind of art do you prefer?..."
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Yumi was walking--but Rei calls for her attention, so she pauses a moment, blinks, and looks back. Rei's a good shot with her camera; she doesn't even get Yumi's glasses glinting back, the big round lenses clear as crystal as they show her pink eyes. She's a slim figure next to her big landscapes, but maybe that makes for a better composition.
"Oh!" Yumi says to Rei, and smiles. "...Aw, thanks Rei-chan," Yumi says. "That looks really nice. I'm not sure about that as a general saying, but..." She trails off and says, "Where'd you find this old camera anyway? It's cool!"
She laughs a little. "It doesn't even look like me, does it?" Then she smiles at Marinette, who has come up to see her. "Oh, those flowers are so pretty! --Ah, hi there. A peasure to meet you, too. My name's Yumi Ohzora. I like to do landscapes, mostly, but I like all kinds."
A beat, "Hey, come with me. You can get one of my friend, too. And you can meet him! He's a great artist, you know? I wanted to talk to him about his newest painting but I think he's been avoiding me..."
Yumi leads Rei towards the next painting. Unfortunately, she doesn't realize yet that her new friend Raiko is in potental need of a rescue; she's busy seking out an older friend. So instead, she approaches another framed work...
It is a picture dominated by red. It is a portrait of a woman in red. She is beautiful, with black hair styled with blunt bangs in a Hime style cut. Her eyes are crimson, and there is a certain beauty in her smile--but if one looks in just the right way, there is a hint of cruelty, as there is in the rose's thorns. She is surrounded by an effect similar to the sweltering heat of summer, and there are many golds in the painting as well. It is a stunning piece, and...
"Wow," Yumi says, because she hadn't seen it yet even once. And next to it is a boy in a suit, about Yumi's height. His suit is black, jacket and slacks, and his tie is red, like the painting. Takahiro Yamashita is watching his painting dispassionately, regarding it with a neutral expression.
Or is it neutral? Is he looking for something?
"Takahiro-kun!" Yumi enthuses, "This is wonderful! You usually let me see them sooner," she says, "So when I found you were working on one in secret, I--"
"I didn't want to show anyone until it was done," he cuts in, his voice bland.
"O-Oh. Well, I mean, usually--"
"Usually what? Usually I do anyway? I'm not obligated."
Yumi's expression falls immediately; she slouches a little despite the nice dress, visibly wilts. "Oh, I'm... I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."
"Don't worry about it," he says. "It's not a big deal. I'm just not in the mood for people." He looks between Rei and Marinette. "Please enjoy the displays." Then he turns to start to walk away.
Yumi is watching him go.
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Natsuki is taking in a painting of a sunset when she hears a familiar voice behind her and resists the urge to twitch.
She sighs and turns to face Ishigami-sensei. "You make it sound like I had a choice in the matter," she grumbles, not bothering to hide her annoyance.
She points to the painting. "I'll just cut to the chase, is there a particular painting you care I do more a report on than others? Or can I just randomly pick one at random it and call it a day."
Should she be more careful with her words? Sure, but she didn't care. There where better things she could be doing this evening instead of working on schoowork. She glances around. "Maybe I'll just do it on this space whale." It was certainly one of the more interesting painting here. She cracked a forced smile. "It's certainly more original than some of your work, Ishigami-sensei."
<Pose Tracker> Michiru Kaioh [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
"Ishigami-sensei, Sanada-san," says Michiru Kaioh to the approaching pair, her eyes half-lidding as a smile comes to her face while looking only slightly upwards towards the adults, raising her glass just a fraction. "You're simply too kind."
She gazes directly at Wataru as he stares at her. Her eyes, deliberately, meet his; the smile is not reaching them. "Are you enjoying yourself?"
Then she turns, with deliberate crispness, away from Wataru, towards the piece itself. Gesturing with the glass, Michiru says, "This is a piece which I initially thought of as a bit of a fancy... after I'd happened to see a whale in the distance while travelling overseas. It was the talk of the city that week. New York City! A great humpback whale - as you can see, such was my model - swam into the Hudson River. It's become so clean these days that the wildlife are thriving, so close to such a great city."
With a small sip, Michiru continues: "Wouldn't a whale enjoy it, if they were to travel to space? However difficult the journey, it would be an ocean of freedom."
And then -
Michiru says, with a tone of amusement. "Good evening; I don't believe we've had the chance to meet? Michiru Kaioh; I'm a student at Infinity. Would you like to ask anything for the report? I suppose I have already assisted you quite a bit, if you overheard."
<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Rei lifts the camera, with a smile. "This? It's a classic! I ordered it after I met another photographer with a good recommendation! I know our phones are getting better and better at photography, but I really think there'll never be a good replacement for old polaroid film. But you know," she lowers her camera, gesturing to Yumi in the photo, "I think this captures a part of you, too. It's like, there's more to you than the girl who comes by every time there's a festival, right?"
Rei and Yumi, generally speaking, usually meet during festivals. It's not that Rei dislikes Yumi -- it's just that they're both involved in traditional celebrations like that.
"Marinette-chan!" Rei calls, waving to her younger friend when she sees her, cheerfully. "You look amazing! Did you embroider that yourself?" She smiles, looking down at the camera. "I submitted a shot or two, but they're in the photography section -- right now, I'm just trying to capture everyone with their artworks. Hey, strike a pose!" She insists, as she steps back, and snaps a picture of Marinette in the dress which is making such a point.
She hands it over, and follows Yumi. "Yumi-chan is wonderful," she assures Marinette, as she goes. "And you know, I've heard so many good things about this great artist friend of yours!" She adds, to Yumi -- evidently, she's been talking him up.
Now, Rei, strictly speaking, is a fan of red -- and she knows something of rose's thorns, herself. She's not about to discount Takahiro for his work in the slightest, not even with his lack of passion. She smiles to him, and waves, and might have been about to say something when --
Well, then he starts talking, and the warmth on Rei's expression heats to something hotter and angrier.
"Not a big deal?" Is the first line she says to him, instead, as she steps in front of him to jab a finger at his chest. She is hot, and red, just the same, and she has plenty of cruelty for the right target. "What's your problem?! Yumi-chan was so excited to see what you were working on, and you just completely blow her off?! What, you're just going to call her people, like you're not friends?!"
Rei gestures, angrily, to Yumi. "She deserves a better answer than that!" The girl in red insists, and her tone is rising louder.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Michiru's rebuke flickers in Wataru's eyes, and he overcasually looks away, and towards his companion instead. "Kaioh-san's brushwork is excellent," he allows, re: Yukariko -- and Natsuki's -- compliments. "It elevates the whimsy of its subject. Truly she is a jewel in Infinity's crown."
"I think your story was wonderful," Yukariko replies to Michiru, while also, somehow, replying to Wataru as well.
Wataru turns to face Natsuki a little more fully. If her goal was to provoke him with a bad attitude, it seems she's succeeded, because although he keeps his voice low, it's rock hard. "Kuga-kun, you may report on this one and that one," he declares, chinning at the very red piece across the room where another group is gathered. "Compare and contrast."
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko doesn't need rescue from this particular friend, per se. It's... awkward, running into her... not quite former, but they're definitely not actively friends, but Cheiko is the more cordial of the two of her best friends.
"I could say the same about you," says Cheiko gently. "You haven't come to one of my shows in a while."
Raiko cringes visibly, "I'm sorry, it's just..." They both know what happened. "... um, I was invited tonight, by a friend..."
Cheiko nods, "Say no more. You should keep an eye out for Kiyo-chan, though. She usually makes it a point to stop in when I'm showing off my art."
Raiko blinks and nods. "Oh, okay. Um..." She can't resist. She steps up to take a better look at the art, lit in such a way to let the darker colors be richly dark, but keep the bright highlights popping out. "Your art's gotten a lot better. I really like all the detailed reflections in the river here..." She squints. "You reflected all the starts in the sky in the river, and... did you use a star map? I recognize those constellations..."
The other girl beams, nodding. "I did. You're one of the first people to notice tonight."
Raiko smiles briefly, at that, though it's tinged with sadness. "Um... thanks for the heads up. I'm going to go find my friend but I'll stop by later, okay?"
After some briefly goodbyes Raiko sets out, searching through the displayed art, until she finds-- "Yumi-chan!" and... she's with two others. Oh dear.
She hopes she's not intruding, but... She squares her shoulders and tries to put on a face that's much braver than she feels as she approaches. "Good evening, Yumi-chan. And. ah, hello," she says politely to Rei and Marinette.
<Pose Tracker> Marinette Dupain-Cheng [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Marinette stammers a bit at the praise of her dress, but manages to find her words after a minute. "Thank you! Um, Marinette Dupain-Cheng! Is my name! I'm just here to enjoy the art, I mostly do sewing projects like, erm..." She waves her hands uncertainly for a moment before thinking to indicate her own dress with a bit of a flush in her face.
Yumi isn't the only one praising it, and Marinette brushes at her skirt a moment as it to dispel some imagined dust. "I wanted something to match my favourite shirt...and kind of wanted to play around with some embroidery tricks I'd found. So they might not all match, but..." She manages to smile brightly, and takes a half-step back so as best to get some light shed on her hard work.
She soon finds herself following Yumi and Rei to the next artist as she tries to figure out the appropriate words to say. "Landscapes can be nice! I admittedly sometimes just try to focus on the colours of a place - the way light plays on things can really make things interesting!" There's so many pictures to focus on around here, so many works of art-
-but Marinette lets out a small gasp when she sees the red.
She breathes again after seeing just who the picture is, but her head tilts in puzzlement. A beauty, certainly - but she can pick up on the thorns, the sense of danger in the golds. It's quite a piece to behold, and she's struggling to find the words to describe it...when she realizes the artist is here too, and talking to Yumi about...
About some tension she's not quite brave enough to intrude on.
Her senpai-from-another-school, however, is that brave. Marinette's gaze snaps between Yumi and Rei and Takahiro with an increasing look of panic on her face as things get kind of loud. And yet - she can kind of understand, a little bit, at being a little overwhelmed by things.
"...um. If the evening is getting a bit too much..." She hesitates, really not wanting to step into the path of Rei's fiery words. And - oh thank heavens someone else is here too. She turns to Raiko, smiling shakily. "Good evening! We were just, ah, discussing this portrait..."
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"Oh yeah?" Yumi asks. "Nice!" Yumi is amiable about the idea of the photos. Capturing a part of her, too... "That's a nice thought," she says of that. "There totally is!"
Yumi is in good spirits still! Well, for the moment. "You did it yourself?" Yumi confirms. "That's really impressive!"
Then she says, "The colors are a huge part of it; sometimes I take my glasses off and just soak up the color even though I can't actually see what I'm looking at..."
"Aw, thanks," Yumi says as Rei assures Marinette she's wonderful, and then things go poorly.
"Rei-chan!" Yumi admonishes immediately, and then in more horror, "Wait--don't--"
Takahiro turns to look blankly at Rei. "Who are you?" he asks. "And why is it your business?"
Yumi gets between them immediately. "...Don't worry about it," she says, "If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to." She sounds more together than she was a moment ago, when she was about to cry. Then to Rei, "I don't want to make a scene, OK? Sometimes he just doesn't..."
She hesitates and as he starts to turn again to continue walking away, Yumi says instead, "This isn't like him at all..."
She sees Raiko approaching, and Marinette greets her first. "Ah, hi," Yumi starts, and looks over her shoulder at the departing Takahiro.
Takahiro's eyes were a little strange. There's so much passion in the painting, and so much not in his eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Natsuki listens to Michiru's story and gives a nod. "Natsuki Kuga, and thank you, you gave me plenty of information." She glances back at the painting. "I'm no artist, but the colors are really beautiful in this.
Looking at it did grant her a calm she rarely felt. It briefly reminded her of going to the ocean with her mother and watching the waves together.
She rolls her eyes at Wataru. "Fine, I'll go and do a contrast report."
She gives a quick bow to Michiru. "Thank you for your time," and proceeds to head to the red painting.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Croix, who has a certain dangerous-lady-in-red vibe herself, drifts over towards Takahiro's painting. Whether she was drawn by the art or the raised (Rei'sed?) voice is an open question. Falling in alongside the departing artist, she strikes up a quiet conversation with him. There is caring in her posture, but her razor-sharp eyes seem more curious about than troubled by whatever her student is dealing with here.
After a minute, they head towards the food table together. Croix must have a black hole where her stomach can be, cause she can really pack it away.
<Pose Tracker> Michiru Kaioh [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
Michiru's little Mona Lisa smile remains, even as Wataru seems to accept this cut. It's a relief, in its way; some people don't know when to quit, when they should never have started in the first place.
"Thank you," Michiru says. "I had thought that the black base would make the pastels stand out more clearly, as well as being rather appropriate given the theme." She leans over to tell Natsuki quietly, "May I make an admission? I used an air brush for that layer."
The rest, of course, by hand.
After this Natsuki departs, and Michiru takes another sip of her cider. "I had thought that I might walk a bit, rather than orbit my own body," Michiru remarks to the others. Her eyes turn to track Croix for a moment, but not too sharply. As far as can be told.
From this she drifts towards the food table. Perhaps she needs a bit of sushi or something a bit more European to ballast that pear cider.
<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Rei-chan has never waited or don'ted in her LIFE.
"It's my business because I've heard so much about you from her! She cares a lot about you, and you're just--!! Ugh, I can't believe you!" Rei gestures, sharply, but when Yumi gets between them and asks her not to make a scene, she scowls to her. "Yumi-chan!" She exclaims, though she's not angry at her, not really. "You can't let people talk to you like that! It's not okay! He --"
But he's walking away again, and as much as Rei would love to grab him and shake him until he apologises, she can hear Yumi's trailing explanation, too. Rei groans, a hand to the side of her head. "Guh... that guy... I get such a bad feeling from him. You're sure he's not like that the rest of the time?" She insists, looking to Yumi.
"Tch," her tongue clicks to her teeth, as she looks to Raiko, frowning. "Right, sure," she agrees with Marinette, still discontent. "Discussing the portrait. Who's this supposed to be, anyway?" She asks, and may well pose the question right as Natsuki approaches.
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko clearly came into the middle of something, what with Rei getting upset at Takahiro, and Yumi having to intervene... and she feels like she's intruding regardless, since Yumi is already with other people. And then Professor Croix appears to talk to--she's assuming the artist? She feels like she missed a few things, but despite that...
But Marinette greets her, all the same, and she does her best to be sociable and smile. Though she does ask Marinette, "... Did I miss something...?" But she says they're looking at the painting and she nods. "Ahh, I see..." She'd been looking out for Yumi when she approached, so now takes a moment to look at the painting itself. There's a slight frown as she takes it in, it's well-done, but there's just something about it...
"She's kind of..." she's searching for the right word. "... severe?" she settles on, finally. "Beautiful, but severe." If the point of art is to make you feel things, well, she feels uneasy looking at it, that's for certain.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Wataru and Yukariko give the departing Michiru nods that are irritated and friendly in turn (Wataru absolutely sniffed at the word 'airbrush,' and now it seems to be stuck up his nose permanently), then move on to another piece. This one is photographic; an action shot, clearly taken in candid, of the splendid Miraculous Ladybug in action, high on Tokyo rooftops.
"Kids certainly have the strangest hobbies these days," he remarks.
Yukariko (a HiME herself, albeit one of the eldest of her cohort) sweatdrops. "I like her outfit!" she says brightly, keeping up that one hundred percent batting average on liking everything, somehow with also one hundred percent sincerity.
"Red and black certainly are popular tonight," Wataru drawls. "Maybe they should have called this show Bolero instead of Starry Night." His airquotes around the latter are audible.
---
By the food, Croix is loading a party plate for Takahiro, who seems to be too indifferent to choose anything for himself. She has dialed directly into the sashimi, reducing the last five-pointed fatty tuna star to only one, right in front of Michiru, whose interest she failed to notice. A very observant teacher but also the type to hyperfocus, it seems; the troubled boy is her whole world right now.
"Go on," she urges him. "Eat some protein. Man cannot sustain themselves on talent alone, not even you and yours."
<Pose Tracker> Marinette Dupain-Cheng [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Marinette is definitely enjoying the art here - but the artists are a little hit-and-miss. Yumi is nice, but her friend Takahiro is...less outgoing.
Which is something she can understand! A big event can be a bit much, and Marinette is no stranger to putting her foot in her mouth. She glances between Rei and the portrait again, a frown flitting across her face as she hears Yumi's worries, swallowing before she tries to find the right words again.
"...I was just thinking. I kind of find big social events overwhelming sometimes - if I can be proud of my work I can focus on that, but if I'm scared about how it'll be received it's a lot easier to, uh, say the wrong things..." She trails off, another frown settling as she looks at the departing artist. Was that even anxiety or fear? Or...the painting gets her attention as art critique settles in around her.
"...it feels a little dangerous. The whole..." She gestures to the expression, the dress, the gold and red. "Like there should be burning thorns or something, and you can feel where they aren't. He did a good job on it, but maybe...he's not satisfied with it?"
She's guessing, throwing something into the darkness, and it's hard for her inexpertise to judge. Ultimately she steps away from the unsettling red painting, looking for more familiar ground. Her eyes light up a bit as she spies activity, and she comments aloud. "Hino-senpai, did you have anything in the photography displays? I might go take a look..."
Oh. That's a familiar shot, and Marinette boggles a moment before exclaiming brightly. "My friend took that one! I'm admittedly kind of baffled as to how, getting that angle must have been..." She looks worried for a moment, but it's hard to suppress the glee at the shot itself. It is impressive - though Wataru gets a frown, and Yukariko gets a smile. "It's - kind of striking, isn't it? Though I feel like it's a little too uniform - I mean yes, it's spotted, but it feels like she could have done more to break up the pattern a bit?"
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"I know," Yumi says to Rei first. "But I got it. I'll talk to him abou it later." She feels... bad. A little better, standing up for herself, for the good of the show. But the simple truth is that Yumi is more concerned about the scene being caused than about her own feelings, for the moment, a habit drilled into her by a family concerned with very proper behavior. Yumi, though, looks back from over her shoulder.
"He's not!" Yumi insists to Rei. "He's usually really quiet, but the one thing we always talk about is art. ...He really encourage me while I was.. I mean, when my dad..." She trails off, shakes her head. "Anyway no he's not usually like that at all. Maybe something happened? I don't know what it would be..." But Marinette has a theory. "That might be it," Yumi answers her. "He could be nervous. This is different from his other works, it's realy... raw."
But they're going to discuss the portrait! "I..." Yumi pauses. "I have no idea," she says, looking between Raiko and Rei. "I've never seen her before. But she looks... yeah. Dangerous."
She smiles after a moment at Raiko. "But I'm glad you made it, Raiko-chan. Are you having fun?"
Takahiro, though, is easily enough led away by Croix. He looks at the plate and then up at her. He has a little of a delayed reaction to her, but after her direction he says, "All right. I guess not." He puts a piece in his mouth and starts to politely chew with his mouth closed. In a true injustice, he doesn't even react to the taste or texture much! (It's Yumi's favorite.)
He is a boy of black hair and brown eyes, in a simple suit and tie, and other members of the Art Club would recognize him as a real talent! ...Who's usually very quiet, and seen often with Yumi.
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Natsuki arrives at the painting of the woman in red, still grumbling to herself about her teacher's demands. Only a little bit, though, because she's still heartwarmed by the memories brought up by Michiru's painting.
She hears Rei's question, and looks at the portrait before visibly recoiling from it. "Well, that's certainly a different feeling from the whale. She definitely looks dangerous. Who was the artist, anyway? Why did he paint something like this?"
She's mentally trying to take notes on, uh, colours. Red and gold are different colours from space, that'll do for a report, right?
<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"Just some jerk," Rei mutters, to Raiko, all venom, when she asks what she missed. Who the jerk is in this scenario is an open question which this narrative declines to answer.
She sighs, shaking her head, as Marinette tries a nicer explanation. "You're much too charitable," she says, with an irritable hand on her hip. "But sure, I guess he might have nerves. It still doesn't excuse that!" Rei fans the fingers of her other hand through her hair, and it flows out from the gesture in a thousand dark strands. (She got hair care advice from a model, you know, so hers is very nice.) "But if you'll talk to him, that's fine, I guess," she allows that much, to Yumi.
"I've got a couple of shots there," she adds, to Marinette, of the photography displays.
It's raw, Yumi says, and Rei turns to look at the painting again. "It's an illusion," she settles on, after a moment.
"Look at the heat -- there. It's distorting the image. That's why the expression is so ambiguous." And she's clearly still a little grouchy, but her analysis, at least, is keen. She looks to her senior, Natsuki, and shakes her head. "If I had to guess, Kuga-san," the shift in honourifics all because Rei mostly knows Natsuki by delinquent reputation, and she's another Ohtori student, besides, "he's been burned before."
As for the photography, Marinette may well find a framed shot of a bright, shining quarter-moon, the stars glittering behind it in the sky. It's certainly a stellar portrait, but the way the stars frame the moon...
Well, it's a good thing another of Rei's friends isn't here to point out the obvious.
<Pose Tracker> Michiru Kaioh [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
Michiru approaches the food line.
She is moving leewards of Takahiro who is also drawing her own attention and perhaps also her thought. Croix is interesting but Croix has been raiding the sashimi hard enough that Michiru has to slightly divert in order to get what she herself wishes - in the end she goes with some giant clam, which she places on a small plate while considering in thought just what to say. (Even she has to take a moment, at times.)
"Takahiro-kun..."
<SoundTracker> Beauty - Sailor Moon S OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx178XZ7_gA
"Congratulations on your gallery presentation," Michiru continues. "I'd hoped that you might show me some of these. I believe that I saw your portrait when it was in early drafts - or is that something else?"
"And good evening to you as well, Croix-sensei," Michiru adds, stepping round with her plate held gently in hand. "I hope you've been enjoying the event. We have a glorious range here; it's made it a delight, when I can make it to art club."
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko blinks a little at Rei's description of the artist, but just nods silently along.
There is... a pained expression as Marinette offers her theory.
Not being satisfied with your work, having to present that work in front of a crowd regardless?
Or... for her, having your work go wrong, in front of a crowd? That's a pain that hits a little too close to home, and her expression falters a bit.
But she's shaken out of her reverie by Yumi addressing her, and she does her best to smile again. "O-oh, yes, there's a lot of really amazing art here--" most of which she hasn't really looked at yet "--and they did an amazing job setting up the show." All of the details of which she has taken a keen interest in. "I, um, ran into a friend of mine presenting her artwork as well, which was... nice."
Also awkward, but still, a little nice.
She listens to the other people discussing the piece, and nods along. Dangerous is definite a better word than the one she chose, but she was trying to be at least a little charitable. Though Rei's description of it as an illusion is interesting, and she takes another look with that perspective in mind...
She looks up to Natsuki and shrugs a little, "... Maybe she's inspired by someone he knows? Or she represents some emotion that he's feeling? Lots of artists use their art to work out their feelings."
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Wataru is too dignified an adult to shrug at Marinette, but it's a pretty near thing. That sniff in his nose is threatening to gain some ground on his eyebrows, which arch.
"This isn't a fashion show," he says without quite sneering, but getting very near the edge of one. "I doubt the photographer is responsible for that... outfit."
"Sensei," chides Yukariko.
He gives her a look almost as blank and empty as Takahiro's, and she stammers the rest of her sentence to a stop and tries to smile at Marinette instead.
"D-don't mind him," she says instead, which might even be worse.
---
Croix, satisfied by Takahiro's ingestion of at least one piece of fish, looks over at Michiru. Well, more accurately, behind Michiru.
Hovering slightly above the floor a-roomba-back is a platform where the band is playing; it has just turned a corner from between some portable walls and come into full view.
The band is robots.
Nothing so unimaginative as anything humanoid; the weird prehensiles can hardly even be called limbs, so purpose-designed are they to play the very real violins, viola and cello on the stand. It is something like a cross between a player piano and a jukebox; there is, indeed, an input screen on one side, which anyone can go up to to request a song. Theoretically... any song.
Take that, Ohtori.
As for the song of the moment, well, Infinity's the nerd school. It's 2016 and nobody is going to admit to being the one to have put this on but quite a few kids are smirking a little.
<SoundTracker> Still Alive (Portal) - VSQ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yScT40KfiO4
There's no way in hell they could ever reproduce the quality of Michiru Kaioh's playing, but rumor has it the Robotics Club and The Infinite Orchestra (yes, no -y, they named themselves) did collaborate very closely on the creation of this wonder, and for the violin parts, did at least have an aspiration in mind.
"Kaioh-san," Croix says amicably, after realizing she exists. She smiles. "Thank you for your contributions as well. Tonight wouldn't be the same without them."
Probably she means the paintings.
Maybe.
You can take the scientist out of her comfort zone but you can't take the science out all the way, it seems.
<Pose Tracker> Marinette Dupain-Cheng [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Maybe Marinette is projecting her own frequent cases of nerves onto that other artists, but...well, she can try to be a little charitable. So as uncertain as she is about her theory, she could present it...and she can just nod at this particular art piece being kind of raw.
Maybe that's all.
...and maybe it doesn't excuse the behaviour. That much gets an answering nod, tight as it is, and a worried glance to the food table - but he's Yumi's friend, so it's Yumi who gets to decide what's wrong or right.
Besides. Marinette has photography to enjoy.
In spite of the company.
Marinette's face goes momentarily blank at Ishigami-sensei's almost-sneer and quip, and she doesn't quite turn to him. Not quite. But then his, er, partner for the critique? Speaks up to try to defuse things, to downplay the situation, to apologize for the behaviour of the adult in the room. And if this were a personal discussion between friends, perhaps Marinette would defer to someone else.
But. As basic as the outfit might be - and she'll cheerfully discuss how uninspiring it is - it's the nature of the dismissal that rankles. Marinette purses her lips a moment, glances to another gorgeous photograph of a crescent moon framed by shining stars, and remembers who she actually respects here.
"I think...I do mind, sorry. No, this isn't a fashion show, or I'd have exhausted myself to try to have something to display. This is about the visual arts that don't involve cloth - well, barring tapestries, apparently? But putting aside your arbitrary cutoff of what's artistic enough-"
Her voice is getting a little bit louder. She was paying attention to her senpai a few minutes ago.
"-I'm just looking at colour theory and visual layout. My friend did a wonderful job taking this candid shot, and we were just commenting on how the subject's choice of clothing pattern impacts the final result. But I suppose that doesn't count as art to you, does it?"
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"...Thank you, senpai." Takahiro replies to Michiru, looking at her after she addresses him. "I didn't really feel like showing them to people." He pauses. "...I guess you might've." He pauses again. It's like he's having to move through water to talk, that level of heaviness to his words. "I couldn't get this one out of my mind. I keep dreaming..."
Ordinarily he would be trying to play it cool but very flattered to hear Michiru Kaioh of all people complimenting his art; he admires his senpai's skill a great deal. But now, he's just sort of accepting it.
From Yumi Raiko gets, "I'm glad." Then, she mentions running into a friend, and Yumi can't help but look a little concerned, but she says it was nice, so, "...Okay, cool."
Yumi, though, looks to Rei again, and says, "I will, honest. Just not now." But Rei suggests of the illusion--Yumi considers that. "I see it," she says. 'Has been burned before'... "I... don't know if..." There's just something about it, now that she looks, that feels familiar. She can't place it, though. "I'll ask him," she says, and looks to Natsuki next. "A friend of mine painted it. I have no idea who it's supposed to be of, though."
Raiko has thoughts, too! "Some... emotion?" she says, and looks to the painting. "Oh... like he..."
She seems kind of disappointed with her own conclusion. "Oh."
Pause. "I mean, I do that, too, so..." Get her feelings out through art, that is.
<Pose Tracker> Michiru Kaioh [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
Michiru smiles at Croix, in a characteristically small but heartfelt way. "Thank you... It's rather flattering, the way that they placed Mr. Whale so that the piece was visible just as you come in. Though you're just to the left, I believe, Takahiro-kun."
And then, the robots begin to play.
Michiru's eyes close for a moment, and she enjoys a piece of her sashimi, to all appearances; listening to the music.
But something Takahiro says...
"Oh? Do you dream of her?"
Her voice is quieter. "Dreams are a window onto a world we might never see." Somehow the sentence has the air of 'but you and I know better, don't we?' even as she lets her eyes turn out towards the strange automation of music.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
"It's very popular!" Croix agrees, definitely absolutely also talking about Mr. Whale. If she perceives any distress behind the prodigy's closed eyes, she chooses to ignore it. "Dreams, hm?"
Her eyes glitter almost a metallic gold. "Dreams can be powerful fuel, indeed..."
---
Wataru blinks at Marinette, obviously surprised that this mouse of a girl is standing up to him. Yukariko, for her part, is shocked and alarmed; where Wataru remains icy cool, she is beginning to turn a vivid red with humiliation. Maybe she's experiencing it on his behalf. That kinda seems to be their thing, doesn't it?
She looks up at Wataru, almost buzzing with nerves over what his reaction will be. It may occur to Marinette at this point that Yukariko, rather than being his enabler of rudeness to children, might have been trying to achieve a different result. Or, rather, prevent a different result.
Rage simmers behind Wataru's glasses, which flash opaque in the light as he lifts his chin at Marinette.
"You--" he starts, but whatever regrettable thing he was about to say is interrupted by Yukariko tripping over her own hem. Given that her hem is almost above the knee, this is an unlikely occurrence, but she is, nevertheless, on the floor.
"Oh my," she giggles, "Must be one too many drinks of champagne! Sensei, will you please escort me to the powder room? I need to freshen up."
Champagne isn't being served here, but -- as some of her friends can attest -- Yukariko is the type for whom alcohol is so powerful that even the IDEA of it in placebo might yield this result. Or she's faking. Maybe it's a little of both.
Either way, Marinette gets an apology, albeit not the one she might have wanted: "Pardon me," he tells her, before half-carrying the nun out the door.
They pass someone just coming in.
A late arrival but in no way fashionable, it's somewhat as though Hotaru Tomoe exerts an invisible magnetic field, and all the other students are of the wrong polarity; where she goes, a wide berth of space seems to be created with her at the epicenter. Or, at the edges of the area, nearby conversations seem to die. It isn't dramatic enough to even call it deliberate shunning or bullying; more like, to return to the metaphor, an invisible and wholly natural force of repulsion. Once she's far enough away so as to not be drawn into any such cluster, things perk right back up as though she was never there. Mercifully, whispers do not chase her heels; there are much more interesting things to discuss tonight.
It's possible she hasn't even noticed the effect, or if she has, that she's a little grateful for the opposite of attention. This is a VERY large crowd for the quiet daughter of Infinity Institute's founder -- who hasn't been seen in classes in months, by the way, supposedly out on indefinite sick leave. This is believable; she doesn't look very well. No amount of perfectly designed light can fail to miss the sheen at her temples after she's been walking for a little bit, and her thinness and frailty is, if possible, even more pronounced than it was at New Year's. She looks... hollow. Like a bird, delicate, fragile. But also like, and more like, something is consuming her from the inside out. Like a candle burning not at both ends, but everywhere, all at once.
Apparently she missed the memo about dressing up. Or, possibly, she only owns one outfit that isn't a school uniform, because it's the same one she wore to Hikawa Shrine, Uminari Matsuri, and everywhere else she's ever been seen; a long-sleeved black tunic that flares into a miniskirt below the waist; long black leggings that accidentally highlight the fact that both of her too-twiggy limbs could fit inside any single leg of almost anyone else here; tightly laced black leather boots with a tiny heel; and, over it all, presumptively-her-father's-because-it's-comically-oversized dark, dark green winter jacket, with its wide, pale yellow collar. Even inside. Even though it is, if anything, quite hot in here, with all the moving, talking, and breathing. Despite the sweat on her brow, she looks more chilled than overheated -- so pale she might as well be translucent -- so maybe that's for the best.
However!! Her single attempt at getting fancy is unexpectedly effective and fashionable, even if it feels like it's probably in a stopped-clock-right-twice-a-day sort of circumstance: she has unearthed a brilliantly crimson beret, which adds a desperately needed splash of color to her look, and is also perfectly suited to the occasion. It rides atop her usual page-cut black tresses, bringing out their naturally purple undertones.
Unsteady on her foal-legs, or perhaps simply uncertain of herself at such a big and beautiful party, Hotaru drifts from piece to piece, her ultraviolet eyes huge in her face not with exhaustion but with wonder. She doesn't linger too long, though; there is a sense that, much as when you're at the Louvre, you can kind of tell who's here to see everything and who's really here for the Mona Lisa -- the child is looking for something in particular.
She pauses in the photography section, directly in front of Rei's piece. Something wistful drifts over her expression like a cloud across the Moon.
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
It's the other friend Raiko might run into that would cause an issue, but the gallery is at least big enough for them to give each other wide berth, so it should be fine. Hopefully.
"I haven't seen any of Cheiko-chan's art in a while, it was really nice to see it again," she says, as a follow-up to 'nice.'
But Yumi seems to take her suggestion and seriously consider it, which makes her happy. "Like, maybe there's someone he feels uncertained about, or threatened by, or something? I might be thinking too literally, though..." The word 'dangerous' has come up a few times already, so maybe... She looks up at Yumi as she seems to reach a conclusion. "What is it, Yumi-chan?"
"You do? ... Oh, right. Where's your art? I haven't had a chance to see it, yet." It's one of the main reasons she came here, after all.
The new song starting definitely piques her interest, and when she looks--she lights up. She takes a half-step to go check out the robotic violinists, but has to visibly rein herself in--she considers robotics art, of a sort, but that's not what the focus is on tonight.
<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"If he's gotten his emotions out into this painting," Rei remarks, "he's really gone way too far. This portrait has more emotion than he had that whole time. Really, it's..." She frowns, and raises a hand to brush through her bangs, again, fingertips resting at her temple.
"It's strange," she settles on, and turns to follow Marinette rather than keep looking at something so red.
The robot orchestra is -- well, it's Infinity. Rei might have been more distracted by it, except that she's hearing the art teacher talk, and talk to Marinette, that way. Rei, who was already boiling over, storms over to Marinette's side just in time to --
-- listen to Marinette give Ishigami-sensei a piece of her mind. She's distracted from her irritability with actual pride, a vicious light dawning in her eyes. And then, down goes Yukariko, all a-giggle.
Rei mouths 'thank you' to her, if she manages to catch the nun's eye, because she can understand a feint when she sees one. And for Yukariko's sake, not Wataru's, she waits until he's escorted her away to turn to Marinette again.
"That was amazing, Marinette-chan! You really told him where to park it!" Rei leans in, lifting her hand to stage-whisper, not really bothering to lower her voice: "That teacher is so weird. You know he gets students to model for him? You couldn't have picked a better man to roast."
Straightening up, Rei smiles to her. "Hey, you wanted to see my photos, right? Why don't we go take a look?" Touching Marinette's arm, she gestures over, to --
"Oh!" Rei exclaims, when she sees someone already admiring her work. The air isn't sucked out of her expression, at least, though certainly she feels the hairs at the back of her neck prickling. Warmly she smiles, as she steps up, approaching Hotaru from the side so she has a chance to see who's coming closer.
"Hi, Hotaru-chan," she greets her, and her voice is calmer, now. "This is my friend Marinette-chan -- she's a middle-schooler from Juuban. The moon's nice, huh?" She asks, turning her gaze to the photo, instead of watching the too-thin girl in front of it.
"Haha, you know, I actually took this one..."
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Natsuki takes another look at the painting with the added commentary going on, committing as much as she can to memory for, um, inspiration for her report. She bristles a bit at Rei's choice of honourific, but lets it slide, because she knows her reputation.
"So...some weird stranger, a bunch of...fire stuff...maybe he has a crush?" Natsuki shrugs. It's different from the whale and maybe that'll be enough to save her grade. Though if her teacher overhears exactly what she's planning on 'borrowing' for her homework...
She looks over in time to hear Wataru Ishigami get called out, start to flip out, and given a reason to get out. Natsuki subtly pumps her fist once after the teacher's gone. "Finally. Well, I have enough for my report, so...maybe I'll get a snack."
Though she might take another look at the space-whale painting on her way over. It's...kind of nice.
<Pose Tracker> Marinette Dupain-Cheng [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Marinette might be like a little mouse-bug sometimes - she's kind of short and kind of easily flustered, after all - but she has her passions. She has things she cares about, and one of them is the art form she exhausts herself pursuing. An oblique insult like Wataru felt like throwing around...well, it might not quite be 'unforgiveable' but it's certainly something she wasn't going to let slide.
It's not until after the teacher starts to seethe with rage that Marinette realizes that she was getting into a full-blown argument with an adult and an authority figure. Not that that would have stopped her, but maybe she would have gotten a little further out of range if she'd realized sooner exactly what Yukariko had been trying to defuse.
But Yukariko trips on a knee-length hem, interrupting the confrontation. This is enough of an everyday circumstance for Marinette herself that she's willing to let the lie slide, as Wataru Ishigami gives a non-apology on his way out.
(Marinette does not pardon him for the slight. She might still be seething, herself.)
And then - her senpai, and admittedly part of her inspiration, arrives to praise that little rant. Marinette's own fury fades into a shy giggle, and she whispers quietly. "I mean, I felt like I couldn't let you down...wait, really? I know there's teen models and all in fashion, but for art that seems a little..."
Her expression gets a little uncertain, but brightens at the mention of photography. "Sure, I'd love to take a proper look at it! Were you aiming for anything parti..."
She trails off upon seeing a younger student she's heard of by reputation alone. The rumours can't all be true - some of them contradict themselves, and others are too ridiculous to believe - but there are a lot of rumours around Hotaru Tomoe, and Marinette pulls her cardigan a little tighter to ward off the chill that seems like it should be here.
Marinette really isn't sure what to say. Introduce herself? (Maybe not, if the stories are true...) Ask about the rumours? (Rude and inappropriate.) Comment on the photography? (Rei Hino is right here and can comment herself.)
Ultimately she falls back on what she knows. "H-hi. I, um, like your beret - it suits you!"
(What is she even doing...)
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Michiru asks Takahiro a question. For a moment, it's as if he doesn't hear it. But then he turns to her, and something in his eyes burns. There is no passion in his expression, but his eyes are deeper, somehow. "...Yes. I dream of her often."
He pauses, looking at her. "That is... true."
But Yumi with Raiko smiles. "Oh, you're a friend of Chieko-chan's?" Yumi asks. "That makes sense! Yeah, she's really good, isn't she?"
Uncertain, or threatened, or... Hmm. Rei agrees that it's strange. "Yeah..." Too much. But Yumi makes a conclusion, and when Raiko asks about it, Yumi flushes red. "Oh, um. I mean... It's nothing. I just... I mean, she's really pretty, so I wondered if--" Natsuki suggests he might have a crush. Yumi goes "!" and then, "Ahahah, yeah, maybe! Um--"
She latches onto the subject of her own art like it's a lifeboat. "Mine! Yes!! Mine is over this way!" Yumi says, and starts immediately in that direction. "I'd love to show you!" She doesn't notice Raiko looking at the robots, but that's mostly just because she's busy hiding the other thing.
But Yumi's art is on display with the others, and the lighting sets it off perfectly. Yumi paints landscapes, primarily, and they are large and intense. There are a number, but three are most prominent today. One is of a beautiful forest location, an ancient building draped in ivy and surrounded by trees. One is a crashing wall of water, a flood approaching some unseen place, and it is so real as to nearly leap from the page. A castle ablaze, though the architecture cannot be placed to anything in Earth's known history. Perhaps she made it up.
Regardless, as she reaches it, she gestures to a few paintings, those included, "So..."
<Pose Tracker> Michiru Kaioh [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
As some of their corps of supervisory adults leave in something of a lather, as far as can be told by Michiru at any rate, she is left with the question of dreams and how to consider them.
And with...
Someone coming in.
Dark, pale, small. A cold figure in the room that's quite warm, thanks to all the lighting - efficient LEDs or not, art requires brilliance and brilliance is not energetically trivial. That red beret draws Michiru's eyes, a darkling almost parody of the AkaMira style, Michiru feels her stomach tighten.
Part of her imagines it. Break the plate, run in -
- and -
And -
She breathes out.
"Well," Michiru tells Takahiro, "that is the tragedy of dreams, whatever their nature may be. We visit them, whether we care to or not; to run from them only sends us nearer to them, or to oblivion. When they are not pleasant... mm; would you care to see one of the pieces which they did not, quite, place for the casual viewer?"
"It, too, is something from a dream." Michiru's eyes turn back towards Hotaru -- and then overlapping Rei Hino, who she had seen but perhaps not *seen*. Her jaw sets a bit, but she does not grit her teeth.
"(You might appreciate it as well, sensei,)" Michiru adds, to Croix. But not with a lot of force.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Croix has a preternatural sense for people looking at her and/or her stuff -- not that the robot quartet is entirely hers, of course, she's just an advisor -- and meets Raiko's eyes just as she lights up.
Perfectly casually, she bestows a rougish wink upon the girl.
"Yeah," she agrees, to Michiru, with an equal lack of force. "Dreams really can be tragic. Would you excuse me?"
She saunters towards Yumi and her art just as the artist starts to give her spiel.
---
Hotaru does NOT share Croix's ability, which, given Michiru's feelings, is probably just as well. Indeed she seems totally out of i; it takes her a minute to get back to Rei, and when she does, it is in an unearthly tone, like night given voice. Soft; so soft that veil; dark; so velvet-black.
"There is--" she incants; no; no capital. She's much too quiet for that. But there is more than one kind of quiet and this is not a gentle one. Intensity reverberates.
"there is a
moon sole
in the blue
night
amorous of waters
tremulous,
blinded with..."
Sometimes, the night is cold.
"...silence..."
Her expression is as distant and icy as the void of space, and one where no whales are present, at that.
And then, in a gentle fluttering of eyelash-wings, she seems to return to herself from her fugue (feat. the poetic stylings of e.e. cummings) and looks, really looks, at the people talking to her.
"Hino-san," she flutes, a little bit less softly and, at the same time, much more tenderly. "Marinette...san." Hotaru's not on a first name basis with many people (one person) and seems a little embarrassed to have to call this 1) stranger 2) senpai by such a familiar name. Though it is a very nice name, and she seems to enjoy its syllables as they trip off her tongue. "Thank you."
For the compliment about the beret. She accepts it as gravely as she might address a head of state.
The girl bows to them slightly, then gives the picture a second look. It's the first one she's done that for. That quantum wistfulness seems to collapse its waveform into the greater specificity of a kind of yearning.
"It seems so close," she breathes. "The Moon." Intuition that probably doesn't mean anything causes her to slowly continue, though not quite as creepily, "I wish I were... like you are."
A pause.
"Um," she clarifies. "Close. To the Moon..."
Nope, that makes it worse...
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko nods, at the mention of being her friend. "Yes, or, well..." she stammers a bit looking for the right words, before finally concluding, "Um, she was one of my..." There's a weight and a gravity to what she's saying that Yumi might recognize from a few days prior, but then Raiko glances to Natsuki, and decides not to finish that thought. "Yeah, she is. I really liked the pieces she had on display. They all had a theme..."
She listens as Yumi explains her thought, or doesn't quite explain, and listens to Natsuki's theory, but... she really doesn't know the artist enough to render any more of an opinion, at that point.
There's a few longing glances towards the robots as Yumi leads her over--No, they'll be around later, right now she's here for her friend. Though when Croix sends that wink her way, she blinks, a bit stunned, and then blushes, offering a nod of acknowledgement and a mouthed 'Good evening.'
But she does take an interest in the art when she sees it, rushing over to take a look. "These are beautiful..." She lingers for a moment in front of the ivy-covered building. She looks thoughtful for a moment as the word ivy enters her mind, given what she knows of her new friend. "How peaceful..." she murmurs. Then , aloud, she wonders, "Was there anything in particular that inspired the design of the building?"
She is much too engrossed in the details to notice the professor headed their way.
<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
And there's nothing Rei respects more than a girl with passion, and that might be why she's so protective of Marinette. And, at that --
"You definitely didn't let me down," Rei assures Marinette, warmly. "I'm proud of you, Marinette-chan." And she puffs out her cheeks, and exclaims, a little more exasperated about Ishigami-sensei: "Really! It's so weird." Unfortunately, complaining about teachers in Ohtori can sometimes go all of nowhere, considering the politics of Ohtori.
Unfortunately for Marinette, she can't manage to introduce herself, so it's left to Rei, and Rei is much more familiar about it, so familiar to that roiling quiet.
Hotaru is... well, she's always been strange. Always been off. Her portents are dark and ill-fated; when Rei gazes into scrying mirrors and casts her mind to this girl who does not fill her clothes, they crack. She listens to the emptiness of her incantation, and, give her credit -- she doesn't flinch.
She looks to Hotaru, again, when she hears her name, and she smiles. "Oh, sorry," she says, raising her hand to her lips. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I'm spending too much time with Usagi-chan to forget a thing like that, don't you think?" Rei giggles, and it's a warm statement, even if it's critical on its surface.
In this moment she gets the feeling she should turn her head -- and her purple eyes meet Michiru's blue, in a direct, fateled thread. She watches her, for a long moment...
... and then turns back, to the photograph.
"I had to wait for it to be close in its orbit to get a photograph like that," she shares, still warm. "Sometimes it takes a while to get close like that, you know..? But give it time, and you'll get there. The moon, well... it's closer than you might think!"
<Pose Tracker> Marinette Dupain-Cheng [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Having made her senpai proud is something that will fill Marinette's heart with warmth in days to come. Which is fortunate, because being in this close proximity to the subject of terrifying rumours makes that warmth feel kind of vital.
It feels like there's a silence that drags on after Rei's comment about the photo, after Marinette's desperate complimenting of a hat. She's starting to wonder if Hotaru Tomoe even heard the words they said when the dark-clad girl speaks, quietly intoning a poem with subtle intensity.
The night feels all the colder, for a moment, and Marinette glances at Rei's photo in the hopes that the moon suspended in a dark void can offer some succor here.
It does not.
And then it becomes clear that Hotaru was otherwise distracted, and is only now paying actual attention to them, and Marinette desperately thinks through the rumours she heard before. There was one about making people she didn't like disappear, right? That can't actually happen, right??
'Marinette-san' blinks owlishly a few times at the address, belatedly realizing she forgot to introduce herself properly, that Hino-senpai only offered Marinette's first name. Which - is terribly rude, but is there a reason? Marinette's senpai is a shrine maiden versed in defenses against unearthly beings, maybe there was some ancient lore encouraging her to go with the partial introduction over a formal one-
-or maybe Rei just forgot because she's been getting too casual. Even here, Marinette manages to giggle. "I'm sorry about that - it's, um, as she said. Dupain-Cheng. Like...the bakery."
Awkward. But at least...this girl is proud of her hat? So maybe it's not a total disaster and Marinette isn't about to be ejected from Infinity Institute forever for offending the chairman's daughter, and maybe the rumours are overblown.
...and now the two of them are talking about how close the Moon is while making it sound like there's another layer, and Marinette suddenly remembers some of the rumours that have floated around regarding Rei Hino. She lets out a sigh, wondering to herself if there's a good reason for the friendship between the two ill-fated girls.
"It's...really well-done, Hino-senpai." Because as pictures go, it's a very nice one. "And the stars nearby are bright, without fading out - that's tricky, isn't it? But it really brings the moon...close?"
Marinette is...not a photographer and really not sure what she can add. But she's survived the first couple of minutes here, so she can't be doing too badly...
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Takahiro remains quiet But Michiru is speaking, and while in his haze he can't entirely understand it... There is enough to him to go, "...Yes." He would like to see it. He cannot resist things from dreams.
He doesn't notice the Hotaru trouble, of course.
Yumi understands what Raiko means, she thinks. She won't press on it right now--she just gives her a look of understanding. And then she leads! She doesn't mind the idea of checking out the robots, but Raiko asked to see her art first. She doesn't notice Croix coming along yet. But...
"So, the forest is... It's a place I see in my mind, sometimes. It's not really based on anything in particular, but I blended in a lot of the forests of Tama in order to flesh out the details. You can see the sorts of trees I used include a number that grow around here; that's on purpose. I felt that it 'anchors' the piece some here with me, to use specific forests that way."
She moves to this, "...This one is one I'm borrowing from a friend to display, because I painted it for her." It's the one of the waves, the water, the drowning sea. "The way she talks about swimming, the way she looks in the water... It made me think of how great and vast the ocean is. Of its beauty and its power."
"And this..." She refers to the fiery castle. "...It's an image I think of a lot. I was able to get it out of my mind and onto the canvas, but I'm still not sure where it comes from. It just... came to mind really specific; usually I draw on some ideas from the world around me to finish fleshing out my ideas, but this one was almost fully formed when I thought of it. There's something sad about it, but also familiar; I wonder every time I see it where it came from."
Yumi, as she's talking about her paintings, doesn't notice that someone else may be approaching.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
CLACK. CLACK. CLACK.
With clocklike precision -- though there's something of the machine gun to them, too -- a pair of stiletto heels make their way across the floor with a very assured gait. They are attached to a woman that looks very much like Yumi, except even taller (even without the heels), and, of course, older. Also, no glasses. Just pink eyes with an uncanny, knowing gleam.
Kimie Ohzora looks like she came straight from behind her desk, dressed much more for work than a party; but at her level, you're fancy no matter what, so she's good. Her matched blazer and pencil skirt are black; her blouse could be gray like her hair (swept up into a chignon), but if you look at it carefully, it shimmers with an undertone of the faintest, faintest mossy green.
"This is good," she assesses crisply, and seems to mean both the explanation and the artwork itself. "You should really start accepting gallery invitations already, get shown somewhere other than your own school. You're ready."
She is equally interested in the people her daughter is surrounding themselves with, who are suddenly on the receiving end of an inspection that isn't quite blatant enough to be impolite, but is still impossible to miss.
"Hello," she says to Raiko, since she's standing right there. So is Croix, who has materialized beside her. "I'm Yumi's mother."
---
The two of them were looking at the photograph together, but somewhere around the time Rei broke off to stare at Michiru, Hotaru's attention wavered. Maybe it's fate, because...
"...wow, Hino-san!" That's the closest to an excited chirp the waif has ever uttered. "You were right!"
It seems that her wandering eye has happened upon its target, which was, indeed, closer than she thought. A few walls down is a statue. Wrought from clay -- you can tell by some of the curves on it -- but painted metallic and heavily bejeweled by sparkly bits of plastic is a chalice. A grail.
THE grail, though not even Michiru has ever seen it in person; still, there is something about the crescent moons, hearts, and wings all over it that speak to a certain little somethin' somethin' of the Silver Millennium in general and the Serenity line in particular.
Hotaru's enthusiasm renders her unusually childlike, and the way she reins it in for a sec and doesn't just go dashing off, in turn, feels precocious. She bids her... friend? Friends? a brief and sprightly farewell. "Dupain-Cheng-san. Hino-san. Thanks!"
And then off she trots to gaze eagerly upon the object of her desires.
It's not the sacred cup per se, though she admires it; rather, it's the little plaque underneath, done up with that fancy Infinity Institute framing.
"The Holy Grail"
Usagi Tsukino
Juuban Public School
Hotaru reaches out as though to touch it, then wisely hesitates and thinks better of it. She simply looks upon the artwork and this evidence of its maker with a humble, joyful awe. She basks in its simple existence.
Grade 5
It's past Chibi-Usa's bedtime. But Hotaru just couldn't, wouldn't let herself miss the first ever opening featuring her best friend's work.
<Pose Tracker> Michiru Kaioh [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
Croix is departing them, leaving them with the air of tragedy.
Michiru's eyes are briefly arrested, a martian/neptunian conjunction of a sort that doesn't happen very often. That enigmatic feminine placidity which Michiru often radiates, often quite intense, and which is one of the things that draw eye and heart -- just what does it conceal? Is it the sort of face that rests upon someone rather darker, ultimately, than might be suspected?
Rei watches her; and Michiru watches her back.
And her attention is drawn... towards Hotaru. And towards Hotaru, past Hotaru, and towards something with a curious shape. There is a cup there; and it gleams; and it has caught the eye of that girl, who gazes on it.
Michiru's eyes narrow slightly.
But Hotaru is not seizing it, not dashing it or taking it to leave. Michiru can take her own look, later, and for now, there is something else. "I'm terribly sorry," she tells Takehiro. "Lost in my own thoughts. It's a little nerve-wracking to know you're being examined, isn't it?" As she walks towards her own little nook of paintings, Michiru says, "It's easier at a recital. At a recital, at least, my hands are occupied."
The space whale has several smaller companion studies, and there is another painting of a rather abstract kind of planet - the colors are quite vivid and imaginative, like a deep-blue Jupiter - but there, tucked at an angle where it isn't quite... in the face of those walking past, is another painting.
It's far more realistic. A painting of a city - recognizable as Tokyo, though perhaps it's a little approximate - seen from above, rather high above. But that is the center and bottom of the piece. Behind it, rising upwards, is an immense tidal wave; a tidal wave rendered in immaculate and realistic detail, so vast that it might be taken almost as some kind of perspective, another fantastic landscape.
But it isn't a fantasy. The wave is beginning to crest. A heartbeat after this, it will begin to fall upon the darkened city. Unthinkable quantities of water. The sort of convulsion that comes from apocalypse.
Michiru does not explain it further, though Takahiro may have questions.
It has a simple title, one word:
Silence.
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
Raiko looks up to Yumi curiously as she explains the inspiration for the building she was studying so intently. "In your mind...?" What a curious way to phrase that. Not 'a place she's been to that she's remembering', or even 'based off of something she saw once'. And it's even covered with ivy...
She's probably reading too much into it. Maybe the ivy just served as inspiration. But then she explains that she filled it in with trees from the Tama area and looks again--ah-ha. "Oh, I see!" She gestures with a finger as she traces the line of trees--but does not actually touch the painting, of course--"so these, and these, and, okay..." That begs the follow-up question, "Does the building ever appear to you with its own trees? Using the trees to make it grounded is a nice touch, I was just... curious."
But she moves along to the ocean picture, "It's like it could just jump out at you... Yeah, you really do sell the ocean's power that way. I'm glad your friend let you borrow it for the show."
"A castle on fire..." she murmurs as she looks the details over. "I wonder if it came to you based on something from an anime or a movie or something... Looking at it does make me hope nobody got hurt, which I know is silly because it's a painting, but still..."
The heels do get her attention, and she turns to look--then has to look up, even further than she does to talk to Yumi normally. There's a quick glance to compare--yep, pink eyes, it's hard to miss the resemblance, not to mention the height. She does shoot Yumi a wondering look at the mention of accepting gallery invitations--impressive! Though, this is Infinity, of course--but her attention is drawn back when the older woman introduces herself.
"Oh! Um," Raiko clears her throat and tries to stand upright, once she realizes she's being scrutinized. "It's nice to meet you, Ohzora-san. My name is Raiko Takashima."
And then she finally notices Croix, and straightens up even more. "Oh! Professor Croix, good evening. The art show tonight is really wonderful." There might be a faint trace of a blush leftover on her face from the earlier wink.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Takahiro does not mind that Michiru has taken some extra time. He doesn't even particularly seem to notice, withdrawing into a quiet gain as soon as he's not being addressed, and returning just as surely when he is. He walks along with her. "Yes," he says. "It's hard..."
But he looks at the paintings, as directed. He barely sees them, really. Until... until one. One, that Michiru shows him, that is so vast, so real...
His eyes widen, his pupils taking in all the light of the room all at once.
"I--"
Silence, it is called. He stares into it, and it is as if it stares back into him. Whatever spell is upon him is not broken but bent by the hex this painting weaves, and he takes a step back. "...You..."
He looks at her, and really looks at her, for the first time all night. "You dreamed this," he says, and he knows it to be true, somehow.
Yumi explains her paintings, in the meanwhile. She nods when Raio asks that question. "Mm-hm. Some of the trees are trees I don't recognize," she says. "I guess you'd say I made them up, but... It doesn't feel that way to me."
She smiles at Raiko to the ocean picture. "...Yeah. It was good to see her..."
ut the castle on fire. She has a feeling, somehow, though she doesn't share it--that someone was hurt. She is rather sure of it, actually, in a way she can't put her finger on.
But suddenly--
"Mother," Yumi says, and straightens immediately, making sure to give the best posture she can, as she steps back out of the way of her paintings. "...Yes," she says, "I know. I only... I've been worried it would keep me busy for my schoolwork..."
She cannot quite argue with her mother, though. Instead, she smiles, as the praise registers. "You think so," she says, and it is not a question, because Yumi's mother does not say things she does not mean.
"I'm really happy you made it, Mother." Not that she would have missed it. Yumi shouldn't imply that. "Thank you for coming," she says instead of that, and smiles.
...Her mom's here...
"Yeah!" she says, and looks at the Professor, "Oh, hello!" Her good cheer is back, mostly, despite her issue. "Yes," she says, "These are some of my favorite pieces. Though..."
She looks over, to Takahiro and Michiru, and a pang of something touches her heart. "...I was happy to get to see my friend's work, too. We usually show each other stuff early..."
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Both women are younger than Yumi's mom, and the way she kind of lumps them together isn't extremely polite to Croix. But the teacher folds her arms and smiles thinly, not taking the bait too much, and simply nods in the manner of someone who expects to be already known.
Given the options available to her, she replies to Raiko instead.
"Thanks, Takashima-san," did Croix just learn her name three seconds ago or did she already know it? Doesn't matter, one way or another she now knows who Raiko is. "It really is, isn't it? It's the great pleasure of teaching at Infinity, being surrounded by so much excellence."
That was said earnestly, and also for Yumi's benefit. Kimie seems more than satisfied, though she in turn is mostly focused on her daughter, after her momentary meeting of Raiko.
"Hm," she murmurs, following Yumi's gaze over to Takahiro and Michiru. They don't hold her for long, and she adjusts her position so that she blocks Yumi's line of sight to them. Gently she takes her daughter's chin in her palm, and meets her eyes directly. "You should focus less on your rivals and more on your own work."
<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
After introducing herself, Raiko takes a discrete step away from Yumi and Kimmie, to give them a bit more space to talk, which naturally leaves her open to attention from Croix.
When Croix agrees with her assessment of the show--not that she really expected her to disagree--she takes it as an invitation to gush a little. "That robotic string quartet is really amazing! I want to get a closer look at it later, and the digital panels that are being used for all the lighting are really interesting, and how they suit each piece perfectly--" She cuts herself off once she realizes she's telling the Professor things she already knows about. Even if she's also complimenting them. "Oh, and the layout of the art show, the floor plan, was a nice touch." Complimentary, but without explaining. Better.
Though she does cringe a little internally at the remark about excellence. Something she hasn't been doing much of lately.
She wants to gush about magic, but this is definitely not the place for that. So instead...
"So... are there any plans to use the panels for future shows, or perhaps different types of exhibits...?" She's got the professor's attention, it seems, so she might as well make the most of it.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
Yumi doesn't notice a thing amiss!
Instead she smiles at what Croix says, too, a littl wider than before. She is glad to hear that, especially in front of her mother. But, as Raiko and Croix break off to talk a little, and while Yumi appreciates Raiko getting to ask about something she likes, the tall girl's focus wavers, to look across the way...
Until her mother steps into place. "!" she goes, blinking once, and then as her chin is gently taken, she looks up into eyes very much like her own.
"O-oh, I..."
Pause. "I mean," Yumi says, "Yes, Mother. You're right."
...It's hard to put him out of her mind. But with her mother here...
"I do have some others on display too. I can show you them, too."
