InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I <3 padded cells"

Akuba Maeko (giantfruitbyday) wrote in disappear_rpg,
@ 2009-12-26 02:41:00

Entry tags:

maeko, masami

Who: Maeko, Masami
What: Discussion, I suppose.
Where: Butterfly Room
When: After whining
Why: ???

A day after the incident Maeko was back in the butterfly room unsupervised, unwise as such a thing seemed. Unless the hands counted.

It was difficult to putter around tidying up to distract herself when things vanished whenever they weren't needed. She'd started folding envelopes instead. It didn't pay as much but it was an easy job that didn't involve dealing with people (why was she still working anyway? She didn't have so much rent to pay anymore and what she did have she could cover by translating instead.). She'd half-explained the situation to the hands. Their reaction was odd, they'd seemed almost relieved for a second and then had taken Misaki's doll and top it in the opposite side of the room from the rest of the pile. She was a little surprised at first that they were taking her side. But they were a part of her. It made sense that they'd understand.

Which made it all the more strange when they completely missed the point, bringing her Kanaye's doll the next time she got distracted and the box of envelopes fell on the floor and paper everywhere and it was such a mess and she broke down sobbing again. She threw it at the opposite wall as hard as she could. Which seemed to help, or at least snapped her out of being so useless and whiney, and she knelt down and started gathering up the paper.

(Post a new comment)

sakurabamasami
2009-12-26 04:34 am UTC (link)

Ever since Renju's area of Paradise, Masami had been spending a lot of free time in the Butterfly Room, either training or just sitting and thinking. Sometimes both. She'd already been in there training earlier, and now she was going to train some more. She had to become stronger, after all. If she were stronger, the team wouldn't have had such a bad time with Renju's shadow. If she were stronger, she wouldn't have lost control the way she did. If she were stronger...

However, when she opened the door to the butterfly room this time, she found Maeko there, gathering up paper. "Oh, um... Akuba-san. Hello..."

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	giantfruitbyday 2009-12-26 04:42 am UTC (link)
	"Ah, Sakuraba-san." Maeko placed the pile of paper back on the table that had been there when she'd entered and needed somewhere to put things on. Her expression was unreadable. "How have you been since that place?" She asked, straightening the pile. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

sakurabamasami
2009-12-26 04:54 am UTC (link)

"...I've been... OK," Masami answered, a little apprehensively. Well, she wasn't going to get any training done, apparently, but she figured she'd stay around for at least a little.

"How have you been? Do you want some tea?" she asked as she made her way over to the tea set that she left in the room, setting down her bag(which contained her gi and hakama) down near the couch on the way.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

giantfruitbyday
2009-12-26 05:02 am UTC (link)

It would be rude to refuse, right? And tea was supposed to be calming. It would be nice to be able to slow her thoughts down even a little right now, she might be able to focus them obn envolopes and murderers rather than non-envelope-and-murderer-related things.

"That would be nice. I've been well, I started folding envelopes." She laughed and it sounded real enough to pass. "I always look forward to the summer break but I don't know why. It's always kind of boring. I would have enrolled in cram school if I didn't have to go to work."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	sakurabamasami 2009-12-26 05:33 am UTC (link)
	Masami immediately started making the tea for herself and Maeko. "Folding envelopes?" she asked, "Does that... pay well?" "My birthday's in the summer so I guess that's something for me to look forward to... Do you have any plans for summer, Akuba-san?" Once the tea was ready, one of the butler-hands took the cup to Maeko. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

giantfruitbyday
2009-12-26 05:42 am UTC (link)

"Nowhere near as much as a proper job. But I can just get it done when I want so it's easier to arrange life around. It's a little hard to find work right now anyway with so many people doing summer jobs, if school work isn't too demanding in september I'll look for more work then."

"Oh? When is it?" Maeko asked, taking the cup from the hand. "I had plans. I'm pretty sure they've been cancelled, though."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

sakurabamasami
2009-12-26 05:18 pm UTC (link)

Masami took a sip of her tea, an action that was imitated by the Masami doll, which had hopped up onto the couch. "If you need a job, I bet the shrine owned by Tanaka-senpai's family is hiring part-time Mikos. I work there. Aside from the big festivals it's pretty relaxed..." she suggested.

"Oh, it's August 19. I don't have anything in particular planned for it yet though... If I do end up doing something, I'll let you know."

"Pretty sure? You don't know for certain?" Masami asked, her curiosity piqued.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

giantfruitbyday
2009-12-26 06:01 pm UTC (link)

On the one hand, wasn't it disrespectful to work in a holy place when you weren't particularly religious and were motivated only by needing something to do? It wasn't even the money anymore. On the other hand "Oh, will they need more people in time for Obon? Helping out seems just as respectful as participating just out of obligation and I suppose it would be of more use to everyone else."

"I hope you enjoy it." She said, smiling. "Tell me if you want to arrange something and need any help."

She laughed, genuinely, at the type of person felt she would be if she went to ask Kanaye about the plans he'd had now of all times. "Satou-senpai had something arranged. I'm fairly sure it'd be awkward to ask him about it but considering the circumstances I think it's a safe bet to assume either they've been called off or I'm not invited."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	sakurabamasami 2009-12-27 12:12 am UTC (link)
	"Eh? Why wouldn't you be invited to something by Satou-senpai? Did something happen?" Masami asked. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	giantfruitbyday 2009-12-27 12:18 am UTC (link)
	"Something, yeah." She nodded, taking a sip of the tea. It tasted weird but it really was calming. She wouldn't have expected a hot drink in summer to be so nice. "Sorry, I'm used to him and Aoi-san making pretty much everything about my life public knowledge recently. It's nice if this means that they've not for once." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	sakurabamasami 2009-12-27 01:33 am UTC (link)
	Masami was curious, but she decided it'd be better not to pry. "...Well, if there's anything I can help you with, feel free to ask," she offered. "Do you... spend a lot of time in here? I've been... well, using this place to train." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	giantfruitbyday 2009-12-27 04:24 am UTC (link)
	"It's fine." Maeko said, smiling. "It's nothing that's a big deal." "Oh, just for the last day or so. It's quieter in here, so-" But not silent, never silent. "Will I be bothiering you if I'm in here?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	sakurabamasami 2009-12-27 06:45 pm UTC (link)
	"Oh, it's no bother to me, but if you'd prefer I can find another place to train. I'd hate to disrupt the quiet of this place for everyone else..." Masami said, taking a sip of her tea. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	giantfruitbyday 2009-12-27 06:52 pm UTC (link)
	"I don't mind at all!" Maeko put the cup down to peer to one side, making sutre the hands weren't doing anything odd again. "I'm sure it'll still be quieter than it is out there." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

sakurabamasami
2009-12-28 06:25 am UTC (link)

If Maeko was OK with it, Masami figured she might as well get to training, like she had planned to. She set down her tea, and retrieved her bag, which she opened and began changing into her gi and hakama. The hands, upon seeing her open the bag, immediately fled to a corner of the room, looking away: she'd trained them over the past couple days to do that whenever she was changing.

As she changed, Masami decided she'd ask Maeko something else. "Say, Akuba-san," she began, "...Well... what did you think of that fight... the one with Sonozaki-san's shadow...?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	giantfruitbyday 2009-12-28 06:41 am UTC (link)
	Maeko faced away, too, busying herself with envelopes again. She didn't turn when she answered, just in case. "It was...if Ito-san was right it was far closer than I'm comfortable with. We survived it, though. I'm grateful for that much." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

sakurabamasami
2009-12-28 06:52 am UTC (link)

"I also thought it was too close for comfort," Masami said, "so I've been training more since then. I don't want there to be any more close calls like that anymore. I don't have much to contribute to the team besides defeating shadows anyway, so I might as well make sure that we... don't have as much to worry about with regards to that."

"I meant to ask you though... well, do you think I got, umm, carried away during that fight? Aoi-san said I got really scary..."

As she spoke, Masami finished changing. "Oh, it's OK now," she said.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

giantfruitbyday
2009-12-28 07:03 am UTC (link)

"Ah, okay." Maeko set the envelope she'd been working on down and turned back. "You're more than pulling your weight, at least. You've finished just about every fight you've been in since you started out. We were lucky that it was you of all people who was one of us." She smiled. "We'll never be able to catch up if you get much stronger."

"I wouldn't worry about it so much. It hurt back there, I don't think it's unusual to get mad or desperate when it hurts that much." Okay, so 'mad' was maybe the understatement of the century. It was still justified by being frozen alive.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	sakurabamasami 2009-12-30 07:38 pm UTC (link)
	"I just feel like maybe I could've done better. And I could've handled it better too. But, well, thanks Akuba-san," Masami said with a smile as she tied her hair back. "Are you OK after all that, Akuba-san? You, Ikeda-san, Aoi-san, and Kondo-san seemed to all be supporting each other at least..." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

giantfruitbyday
2009-12-30 07:59 pm UTC (link)

"You did well enough that we didn't die." Maeko said, smiling. "In the situation that was more than enough."

"I'm...it was unpleasant but it wasn't permanent. I'm fine. It's a bit weird working with icecream after all that, though." She laughed half-heatedly. "We were lucky we could do that." As far as the word 'lucky' could ever apply to that situation. "It must have been far worse to be fighting and to have to be open to it all."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	sakurabamasami 2009-12-31 01:22 am UTC (link)
	"It was... tough. At parts it was hard just to stay standing... but we persevered. I just want to make sure we're not ever in that bad a situation again, so I have to get stronger," explained Masami. "Oh, I hope I'm not distracting you from your work..." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	giantfruitbyday 2009-12-31 01:37 am UTC (link)
	"I'll be glad if we can avoid something like that happenning again." Maeko said, nodding. "Thank you." "It's fine, they're just envelopes. I just needed something to concentrate on." (Reply to this) (Parent)