Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I'm just a flower on a tree..."

disappear_npc (disappear_npc) wrote in disappear_rpg,
@ 2009-10-24 03:35:00

Entry tags:

Who: Parents (No kids)
What: Parent's Evening!
Where: Nanakamado
When: Evening
Why: So the parents can RUIN LIVES SOME MORE/BE EMBARASSING/WHATEVER.
Note: I don't intend to play the teachers very much. I doubt this is a surprise.

The amount of students at Nanakamado meant that it was almost impossible to book slots with all the necisarry teachers within the same time block. As a result, parents were forced to wait for a long time between each appointment.

The school had clearly foreseen this problem, the assembly hall had been prepared with seats and refreshments to keep perents who they didn't want to enrage from becoming too frustrated with the wait.

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

giantfruitbyday
2009-10-24 04:02 am UTC (link)

Akuba Michio was a stern-looking man, though hardly imposing. He was not quite as enraged by their behavior as the small old woman but still clearly disapproved.

The woman who returned to her seat next to his with two cups of coffee was thin and pale and otherwise plain and quite tired-looking, though she had gone to considerable lengths to disguise the latter two behind makeup. Rie placed her own cup on the ground next to her chair, taking care to make sure it was out of the way of passing feet, and sat very still and in silence with both hands in her lap, moving only when someone spoke too close to them.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

zealousemperor
2009-10-24 04:06 am UTC (link)

Elizabeth watched her husband leave with an open hand and a dreamy sigh. She stood up straight, tried to look like she wasn't crying, and nodded. She'll see him again, someday.

And now you know where Kanaye gets it. In order to fufill her need for conversation, she went to the refreshment table and smiled at the nearest person. "Hello! How are you today?" she asked with a smile.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

anthesphoria
2009-10-24 04:50 am UTC (link)

Maria had watched the performance on Elizabeth's part, face flat and unimpressed; the extent to which parent-teacher night was not, in fact, Romeo and Juliet, was just… she didn't even have the words.

It even took her a moment to muster completely generic ones—as the over-emotional blond approached the refreshment table and made her greeting, Maria took a breath, and smiled in a distinctly distant, business-like fashion. "Very well. And yourself?"

Beside her (and about a foot below, at least as far as eye level went), Fumiko only slightly tempered her angry-old-lady-glare.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

zealousemperor
2009-10-24 05:01 am UTC (link)

Elizabeth giggled girlishly. "Oh, I'm fine! I just wrapped up a shoot when I got the letter. I came flying over as fast as I can! I kind of miss brazil, but home is where the heart is, right?" she said quickly. Turning away, she grabbed some food and started to eat it. "This is some good stuff!" she shouted when she finished. She was about to leave when she suddenly stopped and turned around. "Oh, right, I forgot!" she said, holding out her hand. "I'm Elizabeth Satou...or Satou Elizabeth. Sorry, I'm still used to western name order..." Elizabeth continued, rambling. She realized this and stopped, instead focusing on a beaming smile. "Who are you?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

anthesphoria
2009-10-24 05:18 am UTC (link)

"Kondo Maria." Maria took her hand and shook, although, apparently something was occurring to her. Something rather pleasing. Making a quick judgment, she switched to English: "I'm presuming you speak English—are you more comfortable with that? A pleasure to meet you, in any event." And she smiled.

Fumiko, meanwhile, went from sort of glaring to outright fuming—the thought that her daughter-in-law had the gall to speak in English? As if it was a personal insult. Without even waiting for the other foreign devil to respond, the old woman walked away, stiffly (and in tiny, kimono-mandated steps).

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

zealousemperor
2009-10-24 05:25 am UTC (link)

Elizabeth smiled. "Why, yes I do! I'm not exactly more comfortable with it, but if you are then I'm fine." she said, looking at Fumiko go with undisguised confusion. "Is something wrong with her?" she asked, bewildered. "She's your mother-in-law, right? Do you two not get along or something?"

Now, Elizabeth is not a very gossipy person. However, she is very curious about the social lives of others, and she is not one for privacy. "Kondo...Kanaye speaks of your daughter a lot. Kozue, right?"

(Reply to this) (Parent)

apathyisboring
2009-10-24 05:25 am UTC (link)

Ikeda Sayuri, standing across the room in a blazer and a well-accessorized dress just adult and conservative enough for the evening, was looking at the same woman with a similarly disapproving expression, though for vastly different reasons. She swirled her punch glass once, twice, three times, watching the bubbly blonde across the room quite intently, then came to an abrupt conclusion. Her eyes snapped on to the next relatively young woman to cross her field of vision, and she was momentarily surprised to realize she knew this person and was on fairly good terms, to boot - that did not often happen while sizing up the competition.

"Kondo-san!"

She crossed the room, dipping into a bow towards Fumiko and Maria, with a slightly more abrupt one to the unfamiliar Elizabeth.

"How are the both of you?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	apathyisboring 2009-10-24 05:32 am UTC (link)
	Sayuri was at something of a loss when Fumiko wandered off, sulking, but turned back to the remaining women a moment later. She flashed a smile and raised her glass. "Cool party-time go!" She chuckled and drank to her own toast, clearly quite pleased with her broken, accented English. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	zealousemperor 2009-10-24 05:36 am UTC (link)
	Elizabeth turned and quirked an eyebrow at the newcomer, stifling a giggle. It...was just so horrible! She managed to calm down enough to offer a hand. "Hello," she started in Japanese. "Who are you, and how are you today?" She drank to the toast anyway. She never needed an excuse to drink. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

anthesphoria
2009-10-24 05:41 am UTC (link)

"She's just in a mood," Maria had explained to Elizabeth, not-entirely-convincingly. 'A Mood' being the last twenty-something years. "Yes, that's my daughter. Kanaye is your son?" She seemed as though she was about to ask what, exactly, Kanaye had said about Kozue but (luckily?) she was interrupted by the arrival of a familiar face.

She turned and bowed to Sayuri, switching back to Japanese; if Sayuri was impressed with cool party-time go, well, it didn't seem likely that many other people would be. "Good evening, Ikeda-san. We're doing well—my mother-in-law is pleased that we could be in town for this event, since her husband isn't feeling up to coming into the city to accompany her." And any comment on Fumiko's bad mood was entirely excised from the Japanese version of the story. "How was your trip here?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

apathyisboring
2009-10-24 05:49 am UTC (link)

"It was fine, thank you." Not true. She had not particularly want to come at all this year due to recent family crisis, and had certainly not been looking forward to facing other parents who had recieved news of the engagement and its subsequent cancellation.

Not to mention...

"Hideo couldn't make it, busy with business. I assume you're missing your husband for similar reasons?"

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	apathyisboring 2009-10-24 05:41 am UTC (link)
	She chose to interpret the laughter as a sign of approval. Smiling at Elizabeth, she shook her hand. "Ikeda Sayuri. And yourself? Kondo-san, is she a friend of yours?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

zealousemperor
2009-10-24 05:50 am UTC (link)

Elizabeth just smiled at the two. "I see. Yes, Kanaye's my son." she said chipperly. "I can't be there for him a lot, but I still love him. He's been having some weird mood swings lately, though, so I'm kind of worried." Elizabeth started rambling before she realized that the newcomer might be annoyed at them speaking in a language she didn't understand. She turned to Sayuri and bowed. "I apologize for that, Ikeda-san. I just ramble a lot. My name is Elizabeth Satou. You might have heard of my husband, Daisuke?" she asked.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

anthesphoria
2009-10-24 05:56 am UTC (link)

"We're here on business actually, but Ichiro kindly agreed to take care of one of the conferences so that I could attend this. It was lucky timing." She nodded.

Actually, they'd flipped a coin to see who got stuck with which beneficial but slightly unpleasant duty: parent-teacher night with Fumiko or a meeting with a whiny advertiser. She turned to Elizabeth again after a moment: "I'd be curious to hear what he has to say about my daughter… and, trust me, I've raised a teenage boy, mood swings are a natural part of the territory. How old is your son, Satou-san?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

apathyisboring
2009-10-24 06:01 am UTC (link)

Sayuri listened carefully when Elizabeth switched languages. Cars? Were they talking about cars? She heard something about cars.

"Satou - Oh! Satou Daisuke of Satou Motors? Very successful!"

She considered this over another sip and again flicked her eyes surreptitiously over Elizabeth. Yes, that made sense. Now, to tactfully examine enough to determine whether or not they were real...

At the mention of teenaged boys she took another (hopefully) inconspicuous look around the room.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

zealousemperor
2009-10-24 06:05 am UTC (link)

Elizabeth just waiting patiently while the other two chatted, eating a bit. When Maria addressed her, she quickly gulped down her food and smiled. "Apparently," she began, sounding somewhat convinced. "they are a part of an Anti-Bullying Club Special Outreach Program For Problem Students. I'm...not sure why, but he refuses to answer. He keeps saying that Kozue is "one of the saner members, and considering how easy she is, that's kind of sad." she quoted, sighing. "He's 17, and he's usually a nice boy. He's been really irritated at times, though. He normally isn't that mean, but I apologize on his behalf.

Something clicked in Elizabeth's brain, and she turned to Sayuri. "Wait, your name is Ikeda, right? Is your child's name Kiriko? Because he talks about her a lot, as well." she asked, somewhat shyly. As shy as she could be, at least. "The servants are getting worried. He broke into our alcohol cabinet a bit ago, even! Really, he's starting to scare me a bit."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

anthesphoria
2009-10-24 06:11 am UTC (link)

"He said what?"

Honestly, the flatness and sudden near-iciness of Maria's voice barely made that into a question. It was more a statement. It looked like she might have been clenching her jaw, slightly, and her strong grip on the coffee cup was renewed with force. "What an insightful son you must have. And, aha, Satou Motors. I had been trying to place the surname." And, for some reason, that seemed to make her just a bit tenser.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

zealousemperor
2009-10-24 06:14 am UTC (link)

Elizabeth, noticing Maria's distress, bowed quickly and deeply. "I'm sorry, Kondo-san! He's got quite a mouth on him! It's going to get him into trouble one of these days, I just know it!" she said apologetically, ignoring the fact that she probably would have felt the same way. "He was also drunk when he said it, which probably made it worse..." she finished, averting her eyes. Not good, not good...!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

apathyisboring
2009-10-24 06:15 am UTC (link)

Sayuri was quite shocked with Elizabeth's candidness. She did not tense as Maria had, but the wave of awkwardness certainly flowed over her. She eyed the other woman sidelong, simpering sympathetically when she did eventually catch her eye.

"Yes, Kiriko is my daughter," Sayuri answered somewhat reluctantly. She did not particularly want to know what Satou's son had been saying about her child.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

zealousemperor
2009-10-24 06:20 am UTC (link)

...Oh. Whoops. Elizabeth just screwed that one up. "Oh, you poor dear! If half the stuff that Kanaye says it's true..." she said before she could stop herself. "I-I'm sorry if I'm offending you. My son...means well, but he holds grudges for a really long time, and he has that personality that means people will get annoyed at him..." The hypocrisy was lost on her. "He keeps saying that she's a control freak that still let's her yakuza dog do whatever he wants when she tries to tell everyone else in the group what to do...she's apparently the leader, you see." Elizabeth, sensing that she's digging herself into a deeper hole, bows again. "I'm sorry!"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

anthesphoria
2009-10-24 06:25 am UTC (link)

"That's a shame, then—I hate to see children in such trouble that they're driven to drinking so young." After the apology, and the hasty bow, Maria seemed to have mellowed slightly. Enough to take a sip of her coffee, at least. The Yakuza Dog thing did cause her to raise an eyebrow, because, goodness…

Time for a slight ninja topic change, perhaps? Before Elizabeth delivered even more of what were apparently drunken gems from her son.

"Actually, now that I think about it, Ikeda-san, Kozue recently told me that she and your daughter had started rooming together? I was disappointed to hear that her old roommate had withdrawn from the school, but I'm sure that our daughters will take care of each other very well." The polite Japanese idiom about starting things and taking care of one another had always felt odd to Maria, but she used it nonetheless.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

apathyisboring
2009-10-24 06:28 am UTC (link)

Sayuri bristled at the Y-word. The... leader? Of the anti-bullying club special outreach program? And it had yakuza ties? What kind of group was that, exactly? Was it a cover for selling drugs? Was her daughter selling drugs? Were there going to be executions next? Had she dragged the son of Satou into her chaotic downward spiral and coerced Kondo's daughter into compensated dating?

"Wait, they're rooming together?" she snapped out of it. Oh, that was excellent news, she had assumed that Kiriko would be staying with... "Oh, I certainly hope they will take care of eachother."

She downed the rest of her glass, fingernails drumming nervously against the side.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

zealousemperor
2009-10-24 06:33 am UTC (link)

Elizabeth couldn't help but look at Sayuri oddly. What was wrong? She knew the yakuza thing was shocking, but still... "I can't blame that girl's parents. I mean, there's those murders that went on and all. I'd be kind of scared as well. I mean, I didn't take Kanaye out because of it," because she was in Bermuda at the time and didn't hear about it til she got back a month later. "but I can see where she's coming from. I'm sure your daughters will be fine." she nodded sagely as she took another sip of her wine.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	anthesphoria 2009-10-24 06:51 am UTC (link)
	"I'm not particularly worried—those were mysterious deaths, not murders, after all. Calling it murder is just giving in to sensationalism, and a bad reputation that Nanakamado doesn't need." She shrugged slightly. "And if no one else has fallen ill, it's not a medical concern, either, so I'm not worried for the safety of my child at all." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

apathyisboring
2009-10-24 06:57 am UTC (link)

Sayuri felt her knees get weak as her mind added the word "drug" in front of "murders" and she was suddenly assaulted with a montage of mental images, all of them featuring a heavily tattooed Kiriko with a pompadour holding a smoking gun.

"Right, they're not murders," she asserted. Thank god for Kondo Maria. Hopefully she wouldn't notice how shaken she was. Sayuri was short on good excuses.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

zealousemperor, 2009-10-24 07:02 am UTC

anthesphoria, 2009-10-24 03:10 pm UTC

(Read comments) -