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Ikeda Kiriko | 池田 妃凛子 ([info]apathyisboring) wrote in [info]disappear_rpg,
@ 2010-08-24 17:50:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:kiriko, kozue

Who: Kiriko & Kozue
What: Reunited and it feels so good
When: Post-dungeon
Where: Dorm
Why: BFFs?

The movers might as well have painted her half of the dorm grey, in Kiriko's opinion.

Gone were the mahogany cabinets, filled with dresses for all occasions and at least two pairs of matching shoes to boot. The handsome vanity with curving arms to hold a broad mirror had been replaced with a squat desk, standard issue to the dorms, with a cheap tilted mirror on top of it. Most of the makeup and product that had once littered the top of it was gone, too - only the basics, only things she had bought with her own money. She had to fight for her facial cleanser, and while she had convinced her mother that to be asked to live without would be too cruel, the container of what she had was certainly not the fancy imported fruit-smelling stuff she was used to.

The dresser was gone, also replaced with something standard issue, and its drawers were far less empty, filled with only the necessities. The handsome perfume bottles that used to stand along the back of it were all missing. Her hairbrush and curling iron, at least, were familiar and sitting in their appropriate places next to the bed, which itself was now one of the old Nanakamado ones with decidedly itchier sheets than she was used to. Kiriko was presently lying on it, face-down in one of the unfortunately lumpy pillows. She had fully expected that she would be able to live without the luxuries, talked herself up, told herself that it would be completely and utterly and thoroughly worth it, but she was already starting to feel stinky and frumpy, and having to look over at Kozue's bright and shining half of the dorm was trying her willpower.

Kozue was there, though. That was one bright thing. Sort of.

Kozue said she wasn't angry at her, but weirdly enough, that almost felt worse. At least if Kozue had said "Why didn't you tell me?" and "I wanted you to have been there," she could apologize, and look extremely penitent, and then her friend would forgive her. Instead she was abandoning her to a stripped-down dorm room, and Kiriko had no idea where she stood.

She sighed into the pillow, then surfaced for air, lest Kozue think she was trying to suffocate herself.

"I managed to store some stuff in the butterfly room before they got it all," she said with a grimace, not quite managing to sound hopeful.



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[info]anthesphoria
2010-08-24 10:53 pm UTC (link)
Kozue had gone by way of the supermarket on her way back from the hotel, with the plan of picking up something as a welcome back present for her roommate, but everything she'd looked at (food, makeup, flowers, more food) had seemed wrong and after listlessly wandering the aisles for a few minutes, Kozue had given up. Now that she was back, however, she wasn't sure what to do. A gift would have been something to talk about, or do, at least.

Presented with the stark contrast between her side of the room and what had happened to Kiriko's, Kozue was unsure of herself. Add to that the shaky ground that Reizo's place in Paradise had left her on, and the ways in which Kozue was unsure of where they stood, now, and she was stuck in silence. Not content, because they were best friends and this was ridiculous, but stuck.

When Kiriko spoke, she looked up, and bit her lip; "That's good. What did you manage to keep?" The TV? was a cruel, cruel thing to ask, because there were things that Kiriko would need more, surely, but the TV was a selfish want. She resolved to check on it surreptitiously, later. "And... I'm sorry I wasn't here when the movers showed up. I might have been able to keep more stuff, at least..."

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[info]apathyisboring
2010-08-24 11:05 pm UTC (link)
Having taken sufficient breath, she dropped her head back into her pillow. It was hard to look at Kozue. She was biting her look and looking unsure and uncomfortable, reminding her of how thick and awkward the silence was.

"My laptop, and some small things. Makeup and shower stuff, mostly. I can't believe they expect me to go without basic personal hygiene."

She was unsure that Kozue was even able to hear what she was saying, and in light of this, sat up. The lumpy pillow came with her, hugged to her chest as she scooted back against the wall.

"It's fine," she said. "There was nothing you could have done without them knowing."

The room seemed bigger than it was, not only because it was half-empty, but because the distance between them at the moment was palpable. Kiriko felt like shouting. Better than a weak admission that she had no idea what to do.

"Why are you going to a hotel?"

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[info]anthesphoria
2010-08-24 11:17 pm UTC (link)
Kozue was sitting at her desk, one knee tucked to her chest, the other dangling a few inches from the floor. Why was she staying in a hotel? Why... Kozue looked down, feeling awkward about it. If anyone knew the whole of it, she wasn't sure how they'd react. Even Kiriko. "Well, I... I didn't want to be here, alone, after that—I mean, I'm still alone there, but it's not so strange." There wasn't a void there. And there weren't her friends hovering just within easy visiting distance, the ones she'd watched die. Carry around their own heads. Spill organs out of their ripped-open stomachs. Looking terrified whenever she looked at Tom or Seiko or Maeko or Toru wasn't an option, it made her feel cruel, and...

"It's a really nice place. I have this huge room—not the penthouse but it's a suite and it has a bed the size of like two cars. It's probably not healthy, but it makes me feel safe, and I get room service and I got a massage, and the hotel stylist thinks I could get highlights and it'd bring out my 'unique natural coloration' even more." She put air-quotes around the phrase, and paused, and then, "and she said it like it wasn't disgusting, either."

"But that doesn't really make sense."

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[info]apathyisboring
2010-08-24 11:28 pm UTC (link)
The significance of a beautiful luxury hotel wasn't lost on Kiriko. At least the one Kozue was checking into now wasn't otherworldly, but it was still hard to keep the concern from clouding her face. How much different was it from her Paradise? She wouldn't die at the end, but could that still really be healthy?

Her mouth opened very briefly, then closed very slowly. She was staring hard and willing Kozue to continue, to tell her why it didn't make any sense, and why she wasn't enough for company. There was a question at the tip of her tongue and she couldn't figure out how to put it into words. Carefully, coaxingly, she tried the next best thing.

"What makes sense, then?"

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[info]anthesphoria
2010-08-25 12:10 am UTC (link)
"I don't know. I just... I'm bad at explaining it." She sighed again, and reached up to run a hand through her hair. It'd had a trim, at least, to take off the uneven bits from where the burning forest had singed it. She'd probably had split ends, anyway, and Kozue had had the passing notion of thanking Reizo for sending her into the stylist in the first place. Things were looking much neater now.

"Have you been having nightmares?" She asked, letting her hand fall and changing tacks. "I did. I still am. But at least I'm having nightmares in a king sized bed." She shrugged. "It's lame comfort, but I'll take lame five-star comfort."

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[info]apathyisboring
2010-08-25 12:48 am UTC (link)
"Yes," she answered quietly. The whole first night after had been as much nightmare as flashback - Kou on top of her, stabbing her over and over again, running all night from that terrible beast, being dragged into flame by white, clammy hands and watching Reizo and Kozue and the others sinking into the earth before her. More had come the next night, but fewer - When Tamamo had appeared, she slept soundly. After that, she hadn't slept at all.

Kozue had it rougher than she did, from the sounds of it. Or at least was less equipped to handle it.

"If you stayed here," she answered slowly, "You'd at least have some company." It was a selfish request, but Kiriko hoped it didn't read as such. She did want her friend to be alright, at least as much as she didn't want to be left alone in the dorms, trying to adjust to their sparseness by her lonesome.

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[info]anthesphoria
2010-08-25 12:59 am UTC (link)
"I would," Kozue affirmed after a moment, nodding slowly. "And I'm going to. I don't know if I'm going to come back today or tomorrow or... Probably when I get a phone call asking why the hell I'm staying in a hotel ten minutes from my dormitory and an hour from my grandfather's house."

There was the slightest of pauses between grand and father, as if some other word had been edited out at the last second, but Kozue glided over it with grace and said nothing. And thought almost nothing of it, either. "You could crash at the hotel, too. That way we'd both have company. And petite fours. Which are these little sugary things," she gestured, and then sighed.

She waited a moment, before looking back towards Kiriko. Who had been gone for so long (well, it felt like so long to Kozue, with her teenage sense of time and disaster). And who hadn't bothered to tell her about Reizo, and who had new superpowers. And who was, apparently, in the eyes of giant Shadow wolves, at least, an alpha. ".... do you want company?"

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[info]apathyisboring
2010-08-25 01:12 am UTC (link)
She squirmed visibly for a few seconds. What was the right thing to say? Why was it so difficult all of the sudden? Would Kozue respect her less for admitting she wanted the company? Would that thought sound really stupid out loud? Was she supposed to be strong, here? Or was she supposed to be telling the truth? She already felt guilty enough for concealing it once, and that more than anything pushed her forward.

"... Yeah, I do." She spoke with more certainty this time, hoping her tone might compensate for her neediness and strike some acceptable middle ground. And would it be acceptable to say she was curious about petite fours, and that she could really stand to visit a stylist out of somebody elses' pocket? No, probably not. "I could come with you to the hotel, but tomorrow I was going to..."

She stopped and looked suddenly sheepish. It was annoying that he told. Closer to infuriating, at the time, though she'd calmed down a little. Towards most of the others, she felt a strange sort of defensive embarrassment. Towards Kozue, she felt guilt, like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I didn't tell you."

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[info]anthesphoria
2010-08-25 01:28 am UTC (link)
It was indicative of how unpredictable and real that small hurt had been that Kozue's first instinct was to ask well, why didn't you? But she stopped herself. Kiriko had just said she didn't know. Asking wouldn't change that, at least... no, badgering wouldn't change that. "Were you going to tell me eventually?"

She swung her free foot a little. It was nice to be off the hotel, puzzling subject that it was; some of it didn't particularly make sense to her, aside from the fact that Kozue liked spoiling herself and that spoiling herself might be one, or the only way, to get past the nightmares and the spontaneous terrors and the sick feeling of being complicit in something terrible merely by having come out of Reizo's Paradise alive and (relatively) unharmed.

"It wasn't like I didn't think it was a possibility. But since we'd talked about it..."

She stilled her foot, and looked up again: "You were going to go see Shirai-san? That's cool. What about day after? Chocolates and manicures or facials or something. My mom's treat." Her smile bloomed, a combination of I am being personally generous and unjealous and I love spending money that's not mine bringing out an unstudied happiness that had been muted for too long.

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[info]apathyisboring
2010-08-25 01:49 am UTC (link)
"I was," she answered, a little uncertainly, "if it got to be a thing. It's only been a few weeks and we've mostly just been hanging out together and... well, you know, fooling around." Kiriko finished with a vague hand wave, despite having actually put words to it. She might have tried to play coy on that one if he hadn't let the cat out of the bag, but with Kozue, there was really no point. Her friend was acting more her usual self, rather than shouting at her about what a fundamentally terrible idea it was, and thus the only reason to feel uncomfortable had gone out the window.

She tried to respond with some kind of explanation. Yes, they talked about it, but... But what? She was still afraid? Worried Kozue would judge her? Not ready to say anything at all? Didn't want to jinx it? Liked keeping her secrets? Wasn't sure if he'd want anybody to know? She didn't have a good answer, but Kozue moved on before she could fret about it.

Relief washed over her at seeing Kozue smile again. Maybe she was just putting it on, but Kiriko didn't care - she felt lighter already.
"Sounds great." She smiled back, a little softer than was usual. "Thanks, Kozue."

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[info]anthesphoria
2010-08-25 02:53 am UTC (link)
"That seems like a thing, you know, as far as things go," Kozue said, with a shrug. "But I don't... I mean, I'm not blaming you." She wiggled her feet again, somewhere between relief and discomfort. Because Kiriko wasn't not telling her out of spite, and because she hadn't been completely honest, either. "Things got pretty crazy."

"And hey, I have things," she paused briefly, because this had to have been going on longer than Kiriko's not-precisely-dating arrangement with Reizo. "Which I guess, I could have told you about earlier. Which, I guess, is a reason I'm not all that upset." She brushed a stray curl back out of her eyes, vaguely uncomfortable for a moment. The moment stretched into a short pause; "I'm sleeping with Ito again, by the way."

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[info]apathyisboring
2010-08-25 03:07 am UTC (link)
"What?!" If it had happened any time before last week, Kiriko would have already been mentally compiling a case against him, but at the moment all that sprung to her was: "Why didn't you tell me?!"

Once it was out of her mouth, she realized her reaction was more than a little ironic, and backed off from it accordingly. The sentiment was still there, though - at least Kiriko had sort-of kind-of updated her about approaching Reizo, but the last she'd heard of Ito had been when they were making fun of his sexual prowess months and months ago.

"I mean..." she tried not to look disappointed. "I guess we're even, but I thought things were finished with him. What happened?"

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[info]anthesphoria
2010-08-25 03:30 am UTC (link)
"Well, he makes really good pancakes." Kozue nodded, as if this explained everything. "And it's just between friends, now and then. We're not dating or anything. It's like, a totally fair trade."

It was the first question, however, that Kozue was not entirely sure how to answer. She paused, and looked across at Kiriko, carefully, and thoughtfully: "I didn't tell you because... well, I don't tell you about all the guys I fool around with, because that'd be an, um, well, it'd be a long list. And other girls usually don't react well to hearing it." There were, in fact, a whole battery of reactions—jealousy, gossip, judgmental lectures among the most frequent—none of which Kozue much wanted to see from Kiriko, of all people. But it was Kiriko of all people who was least likely to react that way, especially after this business with Reizo, so... Kozue furrowed her brow. It was complicated.

"I'm sorry, I should've told you, too."

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[info]apathyisboring
2010-08-25 03:45 am UTC (link)
"Other girls are usually just mad because you got there before they did," she said firmly, her arms folding. There was some slight displeasure obvious in her posture, a response to being grouped in with other girls. "If they moved faster, they'd have nothing to complain about, and they'd also probably have a lot more nice earrings." A pause. "And pancakes, I guess."

"Anyway, I'm not interested in most guys, so..." She let the thought drop. They'd already been through how she'd respond when it was someone she was interested in, and retreading that was mostly embarrassing anyway.

"I forgive you," she finished. "I'll keep you mostly updated if you do the same for me."

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[info]anthesphoria
2010-08-25 10:42 pm UTC (link)
Kozue nodded; there was no point in circling back over it, treading ground again and again, if Kiriko was willing to forgive and so was she. And she was, and Kiriko was, so it didn't need to be a huge issue.

"It's a deal."

She debated adding, if you really want to know, but there was a moment of doubt, and then Kozue came to the conclusion that Kiriko did, indeed, want to know. At least vaguely ('mostly updated', after all). She uncurled herself, slightly, from her wrapped-up perch on her chair, and turned to face Kiriko with a just-slightly toothy smile. The sort of clawing yourself out of a pit by sheer will to not feel awful anymore smile; the sort of smile that acknowledged things were wrong and told things that that was just too bad for them.

"We're cutting the Nanakamado gossip deal of the century, naturally."

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[info]apathyisboring
2010-08-26 04:31 pm UTC (link)
The smile was still encouraging. It was all well and good to hear Kozue talk contentedly about petit fours, but Kiriko read something much realer and more honest in the half-grin she was seeing now. Kozue would be fine. Kozue had the strength to. Maybe. Or maybe Kiriko was trying to absolve herself again - the truth of the matter was that she did not feel particularly terrible about what she had done to Oubai, and was on the whole more concerned with how Kozue might react. But no, this was Kozue fighting, not Kiriko being selfish. At least, for the moment.

Kiriko smiled back, brighter, encouragingly, mischief glinting in her eye.

"Naturally. Just so long as it's just us. Secret, special-access gossip is way more fun, don't you think?"

She was sitting up proper, now, at the edge of the bed with her hands gripping the edge of the mattress as she leaned forward in interest. Kozue, and the prospect of gossip with her, had caused the might-as-well-be-painted-grey half of the room to be temporarily forgotten.

"So... What's with Ito-san?"

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[info]anthesphoria
2010-08-27 02:51 am UTC (link)
Privileged information was better than shared information? That was natural, almost gospel, as far as Kozue was concerned. After all, she was always one to be greedy with truly good gossip, hoarding information and passing out scraps and tidbits of it until people were pleading. And this qualified as very good gossip, of course.

Besides, most of the gossip she had, most of the time, was about herself, and passing out her own information was strange. And usually came back to bite her in the ass.

She laughed a little. "Everything is better when it's exclusive." And speaking of exclusive, and Kiriko wanting to know...? "Well..."

[Then they talked about boys. It was heartwarming. Really.]

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THE HOTEL
[info]apathyisboring
2010-08-27 03:18 am UTC (link)
"Why have I never had these before?" Kiriko demanded after biting into her third petit four. The tray of them was delightful - bright colours, beautiful decorations... exactly as her room wasn't. Spread out on her stomach on a soft, comfy bad in a lavish hotel room was quickly helping her to forget, however. They'd already returned from a visit to the stylist, which had done much to alleviate Kiriko's fears about what would happen if her hair grew too much, that she might be condemned to frumpitude for however long her mother held out on her. No major work had been done - the cut she needed, some soft lowlights, a little reshaping, and a few tricks with the curling iron just for fun - but nonetheless, she felt much better.

The parallels between the hotel and Kozue's dungeon had been obvious to her the moment the luxury suite was mentioned, but any cautionary tales against hedonism in troubled times had apparently been long forgotten. It wouldn't have been Kiriko's first choice in how to cheer up, but now that she was cozy in her pajamas and relaxing on a down duvet, she could hardly fault Kozue.

A contended sigh and Kiriko rolled over onto her back to examine her nails. Once through with that, she examined Kozue.

"Thanks for inviting me, by the way."

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Re: THE HOTEL
[info]anthesphoria
2010-08-29 04:25 pm UTC (link)
Kozue stretched her back gently, enjoying the feeling of muscles that had been soaked in mineral baths and worked over, and over. The exhaustion and acidic burn of running far past healthy limits were starting to fade; ideally, she'd find a reason to skip out on sprints when Tennis practice started up again, and she'd feel right as rain in no time.

It would be nice if there was a simple formula like that for the emotional exhaustion, lingering just like lactic acid all over her thoughts. That was a weird comparison, she decided, furrowing her brow, and reaching for another petit four. "I wish I was quarter French," Kozue declared—it was not really a response to Kiriko's question about the French dessert, but it was better than a shrug or a half-hearted explanation. "There'd be way better food." She propped her head up slightly, balancing on her elbows, and looked more closely at her best friend; the uneaten bonbon remained in Kozue's hand.

"Of course. I'm glad you came; this place is nice enough alone," that was not wholly true, because it was great alone, because they had bonbons and cable and massages, among many other things, but she wasn't going to tell Kiriko that in as many words. "But it's better with a friend. ... Hm, think we could just live here for the rest of the school term?"

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