2014-05-30 - I Haven't Protected You
| Title: I Haven't Protected You | |
|---|---|
| Summary: It's late when Mikoto finally gets home. What kind of time do you call this, anyway? | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Ohtori Dormitories | |
| OOC - IC Date: 21 January 2014 - 5/30/2014 | |
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
It is getting late. Mikoto, bless her heart, has been going to class -- though excelling might be far too strong a word -- but she's been spending so much time in her search for her brother. Now it's getting late, the sky already dark, and she's still not back.
It's worrying, isn't it?
In the end, she doesn't even do Mai the courtesy of knocking on their door. Somehow, she's scurried through the open /window/, and the first evidence she might show of her presence is a low, pained moan.
"Aaauuu..."
It is the terrible pain of hunger, accompanied by growling stomach.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
It's January, and yet the dorm window is open. It's almost as if a certain someone had anticipated that such an entry might be performed tonight. The apartment isn't all that chilly, though, and the kitchen at the least is warm.
Warm, and partially filled. There's a pan set on a wooden board, containing some cuts of meat - cooked, and left to sit. The rice cooker, fitted with a new plastic seal, has the amber light indicating that it is full and done cooking. A pot of sauce sits cold and uncooked on one burner; on another, vegetables immersed in water. The chef, however, is not hard at work preparing hot food.
Mai is, instead, at the table, head resting on an open book. Next to her, a half-finished History essay, and a mug half-filled with cold coffee. The groan, pained as it is, shocks her out of her stupor - or was it, perhaps, slumber?
Either way, Mai sits bolt upright, looking around in a brief panic until her eyes come to rest on Mikoto. She does not approach her roommate right away - instead, she takes the long way around, turning on the burners under the prepared pots. Once they've begun heating, only then does she crouch down next to her black-haired companion.
"Exactly what kind of time do you call this, Mikoto?"
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
"Mauuuu..." Mikoto whines, helplessly, Miroku slumped beside her on the floor as if the sword, too, has decided it has had /more/ than enough of the world. Her sensitive ears catch someone moving, from behind the horrible knell of her impending doom. And when Mai crouches beside her, the girl reaches out, with a weak and shaking hand, to clutch at her skirts.
"Maaaaiiii," Mikoto rasps, looking up at her with huge eyes. "... dark?"
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"Oh, what am I going to do with you..." Mai sighs at Mikoto's plight. With care, she scoops the girl up and carries her over to the table. The sword, she leaves more or less where it landed - though once Mikoto's seated, Mai does go back to prop it up against the wall. With that bit of cleaning up done, Mai turns her attention back to the weary Mikoto, taking a seat next to her.
"I was starting to worry about you, you know. It'd really be easier on both of us if you tried, I don't know, coming home before you started starving to death." There's a bit of anger burning in Mai's voice, betraying her worries.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
For carrying around such a terrible claymore, Mikoto isn't terribly heavy or difficult to move; she's limp in Mai's arms, and then she's slumped against the chair.
But, you know, it's funny. When Mai goes to take Miroku up, Mikoto clenches her hand, and the sword sort of vibrates -- and /disappears/, only to come to rest leant against Mikoto's chair. What a clingy macguffin!
The girl doesn't see anything strange about that at all, instead looking up at Mai with huge puppy-eyes. (Kitten-eyes?) "Can't find Lord Brother," she says, despondently. "He's here. Somewhere. Gotta find him."
As if that excuses coming back late and making so much trouble!
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Well, the chair's a good place. No risk of tripping over it there. Mai's either seen this before or is too occupied otherwise to care.
Mai's brief burning anger gutters out when confronted with those eyes, and she lets out a sigh. "I know, Mikoto. But you have to take care of yourself at least a little bit - what if you'd collapsed on the way back? I wouldn't have known where to find you..."
Mai's coffee is stone cold, and wasn't really worth drinking in the first place. Her gaze flickers to the stove when a quiet 'blurp' sounds. "You need to keep yourself fed if you're going to find him, you know. Lucky for you, I got most of supper ready ahead of time - it just needs a few minutes to heat up."
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Mikoto frowns, to herself, and looks up at Mai. Mai is angry, but... it's different to killing-anger.
Mikoto has heard things. From Mai, and from people who aren't Mai, talking when they think she can't hear them. And...
"I'm sorry, Mai," Mikoto says, her voice wavering slightly. "Mai has been fighting hard too, right..?"
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
That is a bit of an understatement. Mai doesn't even try to hide her exhaustion - she just slumps in her chair until her chin's resting on the table. "It's okay, Mikoto. It's just...there was the whole thing with Takumi. A monster did something to make him collapse, and turned into an copy of him with ice powers that I had to fight...and once that was clear, I had to get him checked out at the hospital. On top of that, one of the few non-magical friends I thought I had turned out to have powers of her own - oh, and Eri-chan was at the hospital too, and she's having a terrible week."
Mai's forehead rolls forward to thunk against the tabletop. "This on top of the demons that were threatening us, Mamoru's lovelife being more complicated than I thought, Linden Baum getting busier or cutting hours depending on the week, and school piling on the work now that the term's fully underway."
With more effort than she really should need, Mai pushes herself up from the table, and turns her gaze to Mikoto - there's a hint of tears there, behind the clear exhaustion, and her own voice wavers a bit as well. "So I need to know that you'll be okay, Mikoto. I know you have to search for your brother, I'd help you if I could - but you can't do this. Please, make sure you don't wear yourself out like this."
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Mikoto considers Mai, before her, who is just as tired as Mikoto is. Mai, who has been doing things with people. Some of those are people Mikoto likes -- her face falls, a little, when she hears about Eri. (Perhaps she should visit her? ... if she has time.)
When Mai lifts her head again, Mikoto finds the strength to get up... only to climb onto Mai's lap and wrap her arms around her. "Mai," she insists, quietly, "I'll be okay. I'm sorry, Mai. I haven't protected you."
Which is nonsense, really. Mai is the protector, right?
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Mai wraps her arms around Mikoto in return - it's a cold night outside the open window, but a warm embrace. "It's okay, Mikoto. There wasn't a whole lot in there I could be protected from, anyway." Her grip tightens for a moment, then loosens. "I know you'd be by my side if you knew I needed it. Just as long as I know you're taking care of yourself..."
Mai sags. It has been a long week and longer month, and she really just needs to have a week to just crash. In absence of a week, though, she at least has tonight to-
Further ruminations are cut off by a loud bubbling, and Mai's eyes flash wide open. "The sauce!" In a rush, Mai gets up, and dashes to the stove - the vegetables are at a full boil, that's fine, but the sauce is starting to bubble over. It's awkward, but she manages to get the burner shut off, and the pot taken off the head - and, in fact, poured directly into the dish of cooked meat. There's a cringe-inducing black ring on the burner, scorched tomato sauce that will have to be properly cleaned later, but most of the meal seems salvageable.
The awkwardness in Mai's kitchen activities, of course, is because she never removed the Mikoto clinging to her. She looks down at the girl, still actually being held to Mai with one hand, and smiles slightly. "...supper's just about ready."
