exsiliumlogs | i guess it could be worse

Entry tags:

i guess it could be worse

Date & Time: Yesterday evening-ish
Location: Room 701
Characters: Haruto, Nitoh, Oriko
Summary: Oriko comes down with a case of the annoying wizards
Warnings: Oriko + Haruto + Nitoh = everybody hit the deck. (In all seriousness, Haruto's depression, Oriko's everything, and Nitoh's mayonnaise.)

Upon hearing that his room was no longer accessible, he'd been upset. Upon finding out he'd been reassigned, and that--moreover--the room was full, now, he'd been disgruntled, though it probably couldn't be any worse than having Nitoh a semi-permanent figure in his social life at this point. So he takes his new key, and he climbs the stairs, glad that at least he's not in temporary housing any more. He knows the stories of the seventh floor, which means his step is ginger as he turns into the hallway, but he's summoned up his cool by the time he finds the door and inserts the key in the lock, since there haven't been any ghost sightings.

"Hi," he says, stepping out of his shoes and making his way inside. He hadn't exactly hurried his way to the complex this morning--he didn't think he was first.

"I brought doughnuts," he offers, in case that's a concern.

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Nitoh headed straight for his new assignment, having only to pack up his tent and shove everything else into his bag. He's picked his room, artfully tossing all his stuff around the room. When he hears Haruto's voice he perks up, whirling. "Haruto!"

He saunters out of the bedroom, grinning hugely. "I guess we're for-real roommates now, huh?!" He beams. And then he sees the doughnuts. "Oouh!! Hand 'em over!!" He grabs for them.

This is where Oriko had been in the first place.

A month should hardly be enough time to settle in anywhere - though how long had it taken her to 'settle in,' that other April?

Not much has changed, though the room is noticeably louder upon her second entry than it was on the first. It isn't the loud she's used to, which makes it cause infinitely more of an impression.

"This certainly isn't what I was expecting," is the first thing she says. "I've been taken off guard."

Given a moment, she quickly recognizes at least one of the men standing in the apartment. She hasn't forgotten his face.

"Mr. Souma?"

"Get--off--they're not for you," Haruto answers, holding them out of Nitoh's reach. He turns upon hearing their third roommate finding their way inside, and recognition passes quickly over his face.

He ignores Nitoh to nod to her. "Miss Oriko," he says, and offers her a hopefully familiar, flourishing bow.

Then, after straightening up, he offers the now kind of wrinkled bag of doughnuts. "A housewarming gift."

The fact that he may or may not have a hand pressed against's Nitoh's chest in a 'keep off' gesture will hopefully go ignored.

And Nitoh continues to reach and lean, pushing his own hand into Haruto's face. "Hey! Hey! I'm hungry!"

Then he seems to actually notice Oriko, and he steps back, stumbling aside and towards her. "Hey! S'your name Oriko? I'm Nitoh, Kousuke Nitoh!" He leans down to look her full in the face and grins. "We're roomies now, I guess. I'm a wizard, like Haruto!"

"Thank you. Why don't I find the plates?"

She smiles her way through Haruto's offer, is just about to follow through on her suggestion when Nitoh makes his introduction.

She is intent, for now, on receiving people with the same politeness no matter their attitude. "Yes, that's my name. Oriko Mikuni; it's a pleasure.

"Wizards? Really? You must know one another, then?"

Haruto nods, eyeing Nitoh. "He knows a future me from our world," he summarizes, "let her past, Nitoh--" Never mind that he's part of the problem here.

"Please," he says, "go ahead. Which... bedroom is yours?" He assumes Nitoh's already dumped his bag off somewhere, and he'd rather not intrude on his clearly quite young, female roommate's space when he could avoid it.

"Yeah, we're rivals!" He gives a thumbs up. At Haruto's question, he jerks his head over his shoulder. "I'm in the middle room, hope nobody wanted it!"

He saunters back and puts his hand over Haruto's shoulder in a now-customary (for both of them) gesture. "Don't mind him, he just doesn't remember what a great team we make."

Rivals, hm.

"I lived here before the accident, and I stayed in that room." Fortunately for all of them, it's not Nitoh's that she gestures too.

Oriko leaves her shoes at the door, taking a quick inventory of anything that might have changed during the housing rearrangement. But plates, she can find those.

"This will be useful in helping you get to know each other...again? In that case."

"He's been here for--months, but maybe," Haruto answers, eyeing Nitoh. He'd say 'too long', but truthfully he has grown fairly fond of him, even when he's being ridiculous. (Which is good, since's he's being ridiculous often.)

Two out of three rooms claimed leaves him with--that one. Good. He nods to himself, then attempts to disentangle himself from Nitoh.

"Like a month! Time's flown, huh! It flew so hard you thought it flew twice as fast, ha ha." He lets go and pushes Haruto off gently.

"Don't get too busy, Haruto, I'm gonna need you in a minute cos I'm hungry." He gives an unsubtle pat to Haruto's belt buckle, obviously thinking he's doing a real good job of hiding his 'secret' from Oriko.

Her lips purse and open again once in surprise, then Oriko closes her eyes and smiles.

"There may be something else to eat, if sweets aren't satisfying enough. I see no reason to keep you for too long."

Diplomacy. Oriko lays the short stack of dishes out for them with as little attention paid as possible. When she looks at Nitoh again, she is already considering other thoughts, other ideas. How interesting.

"I may have company from time to time while we sort this arrangement out. I keep mostly to my own space, but I did live alone for some time. I apologize if I forget. I can cook and clean if necessary, but I can't hope to cover every meal."

"Nitoh," Haruto says, shoving at him. "I'll handle it."

Then he turns toward Oriko. "Don't worry about him," he says. "We're adults, right, Nitoh?" He turns toward him and pins him with a look, daring him to disagree. "It's nice of you to offer, though. Maybe we can work out a... system?" He is most decidedly not a cook, but it seems wrong to at least offer.

Nitoh brightens up, though there's still a hint of annoyance at Haruto's flippancy. "I'm a good cook! Haruto doesn't appreciate my cooking enough, so I'd be glad to cook for someone who can say thank you."

"And if you gotta friend over, I can take the couch so she can have my bed, or like set up on Haruto's floor or somethin'." He shrugs his shoulders up. "I'm not picky about where I sleep, I used to sleep in a tent on a roof."

Then he jerks Haruto aside for a minute and whispers urgently at him. "I healed like a ton of people and moved a whole load of rubble back there, just saying, I'm on E right now."

Then he turns back to Oriko. "Anyhow, you look like you might want to have some tea with these doughnuts so lemme put the kettle on." He stalks into the kitchen to do so, all boundless energy and gregariousness.

"How kind of you to offer." The room and the tea both. "I'd appreciate that."

You have an odd friend, Mr. Souna. He probably knows as much already.

Oriko has little to say to Nitoh's odd behavior; while he takes off for the kitchen, she meets Haruto's eyes across the room.

"Thank you for assisting after the crash," she says, though thinking of it leaves her a little raw. There are a lot of little things she's going to have to just let happen, aren't there?

"Okay, I will get to it in a minute, Nitoh, you're not the only one who was helping out," Haruto hisses back, before Nitoh is gone. He looks back at Oriko, hand around the bag of doughnuts tightening with a crinkle of the paper.

"If you have the power to help, you should, right?" he asks, "if you can, anyway. Were you--were you here, when it happened?"

Nitoh puts on the kettle and pops back out of the kitchen, crossing his arms and leaning up against the doorframe. He purses his lips as he watches Haruto. He looks to Oriko for her answer and then follows up, "So how come you two know each other?"

"I was just outside." No foul in an accident that causes no casualties. Remember how many people could die. "I'm glad they thought to evacuate Transports for the landing."

She can't remember seeing them in the chaos, but in all truth Oriko had not cared enough to look for someone she'd only met once previously, and so fleetingly.

"We've spoken over the network before. I was trying to stir up some interest in aiding the city's residents." Her altercation with Madoka Kaname had been quick to override it, but she hasn't forgotten their first meeting.

"It was a good call--surprising, given the source, though," Haruto says, shrugging his shoulders and pulling distractedly at the fabric catching over them.

He'd managed to miss her too, but then once he knew Nitoh and Adam were safe, he'd been doing whatever was most helpful.

He barely notes Nitoh's question physically, but nods in agreement with her explanation. "Maybe things will go better with that now, huh? I think a spaceship falling out of the sky might make city improvements a bit of a priority."

Nitoh nods thoughtfully as he listens. "That's cool, I guess. I like the people in this town. If we're gonna be here, we might as well be helpin' them out, if we can." He gestures to Oriko. "You gotta good heart."

He shrugs. "Even if they just fix up the parts that got wrecked up by the crash, that's good for somebody." He tilts his head. "Do either of you know anything about that rocketship thing? I guess it has something to do with the big war or whatever?"

One would think, but there are still all of those bombed-out tragedies further out.

"Perhaps there are enough Transports who would take interest in that sort of task now."

You gotta good heart. Oriko's eyes widen slightly and she pauses. Maybe. After meeting with Madoka Kaname, after being here... For the first time, she has to admit that she has doubted.

"Only what we were told. I spoke with people involved in the mission about their negotiations with the Initiative more than the ship itself." She sighs. "I wonder if they are moot now."

Edited (I CAN HTML) 2013-05-12 05:07 (UTC)

"I haven't been paying that much attention to that part of the whole thing," Haruto admits, plucking at his coat cuff. "There were more, uh, pressing matters, at the time. They hijacked it, didn't they?"

He hasn't missed the momentary change in Oriko's expression, and he shifts his gaze to Nitoh, mouth quirking. Figured he'd manage not to piss her off. "Sounds like we're getting some details out of it, though, right? You don't screw up like this and not pay for it." He pulls at the bag of donuts, pulling at the edges of the top until the wrinkled parts flatten out.

The teakettle whistles its head off in the next room and he pops out to get it, bringing back three steaming cups. "I only have teabags, sorry. Not very fancy." He offers Oriko a cup and then hands Haruto a cup and a sugarbowl. He knows what's up.

He leans on the back of the couch with his teacup, not really having much to say about the complex situation that the two of them are talking about. He asked, sure, but that doesn't mean he really understands what the situation with the Initiative really entails, except that Haruto is really frustrated by it. "I wonder if that ship still runs..." he idly murmurs.

She thanks Nitoh clearly, politely; thinks briefly about the possibility of saucers and nicer china. What an unwelcome thought, in the middle of this conversation.

She's the first to sit, taking it for what it is. She's at ease enough by now to be off her feet in the apartment.

"Quite a lot of it was intact. It's possible. I hope we learn soon enough, though I fear they may try to withhold that sort of information." One way or another, because of all the people here, at least a few should be committed to finding answers. "Once something is before the public's eyes, it's hard to ignore. It will be hard to make this simply go away in the eyes of Transports."

Haruto moves to sit behind Nitoh's back, leaning forward to set down the teacup and the sugar bowl on the table. Four scoops of tea stirred in later, he sits back up, considering the surface for a second as he speaks. "It's not like they can pretend this never happened. There are a lot of stubborn Transports who aren't going to let them." Himself included, even if it's not like he really has a true bargaining position. He lifts his cup to his lips, and after a sip he pulls a face. Not enough sugar. He leans forward again in order to fix that oversight.

He leans his lower back on Haruto's shoulders. Well, his butt, really. At least Oriko and Haruto seem to be getting along, not that he's worried about Haruto making nice with civilians. He sips a long hot drag of tea.

"Well, I guess I don't know much about the whole thing, but if havin' a ship like that can make things a little easier for all of us, I hope it still works." He mumbles. "I mean, maybe if we got something like that on our side, we can get through this whole thing faster and get back home to deal with our own stuff."

Then Haruto leans forward and, leaning on his back, Nitoh slips ass-first into the space between the back of the couch and the back of the Haruto. "Whoa!!" he exclaims, glad he's drunk a little bit of the tea and it's not spilling all over everything as he slides.

"I know someone you should get along with very well," Oriko observes with a chuckle. "She has quite the sweet tooth, herself."

There's something about their closeness that surprises her, if only because she's newly introduced to it. She doesn't bother indicating that she has started to wonder if leaving, for her, is even an option.

"It'd be a shame if the crash grounded it permanently. Since my arrival I'd hoped to help expand the feed of information. Maybe this will do it."

When Nitoh starts to slip, Oriko reacts remotely: a tensing of muscles, a quick flex of her arm.

"Unfortunately, that happens when your furniture is alive, Mr. Nitoh." It sounds good humored enough, but exasperation is thinly-veiled somewhere in her tone. "I could offer you my seat, if you'd like."

Haruto squawks as Nitoh's weight slides back against him, and twists his head to give Nitoh a look he's fairly sure he can't even see from his position. "Nitoh," he says, voice long-suffering, before clearly seeming to give up, and he turns his eyes toward Oriko. "Mana burns energy," he says, as an explanation no one asked for. "Sugar's the fastest way to refill."

His eyes flicker down and back at Nitoh's hope, and Oriko's echo. "Going home to deal with things would be nice," he agrees, shifting his eyes toward his cup, "even if it's just--an option, for people. The faster this war is settled, the better." Really, he doesn't even care who wins, or whether anyone does. It might matter to people who found home a dangerous or unpleasant place to be, and he would defend civilians as best he could, but he didn't owe the Initiative--or its secrecy--any favors.

"You gonna slide off there, or you going to keep crushing me, Nitoh? All this easy living's fattened you up." This is a dirty lie, but he's smirking anyway.

Nitoh flails off to the side, otherwise unable to rise over his own center of balance. He manages to get off without too much trouble, though. And without spilling his tea too much. He sucks the side of his hand, which is slightly scalded. "Yeah, it wouldn't be a bad idea to go home," he muses. Back to the old grind of phantoms, but at least he'd feel like he was doing something.

Then Haruto's snarky comment makes it to him and he scowls. "Hey, I'm as fit as I've ever been, you're just jealous!" He pats his stomach. "C'mon this is tight as anything. I'm not the one who eats nothing but donuts!"

"Is that it? I suppose, scientifically, that would be sensible."

She'll have to make sure Kirika never gets wind of that: She eats enough sugar as is already. Better than burning through soul.

"Surely having access to the training facilities is enough to work off a few donuts, don't you think? I'll ask you for advice now that I'm not a active as I once was."

In exchange, perhaps, for keeping things in order beyond these antics. A compulsion to keep the furniture safe is short-lived in her. It's not Father's.

"I'd like to know how that works for a real magician."

"Ow--owowow, Nitoh--" Haruto hisses and grumbles until Nitoh's weight is off, and wiggles away from him for good measure, sipping at his tea so the part threatening to slip over any time he so much as moved was gone. There, that was better.

"Training dummies only give so much satisfaction," Haruto says, "but I'm sure we can think of some exercise." It wasn't that long ago that he was training every day, for less violent pursuits. "Or you could let Nitoh take you on a hike. I hear he's good at those," he adds, more lightly.

He purses his lips indignantly at the grumbles, and then swoops around to sit cross-legged on the floor with his tea in hand. "Yeah! Come on a hike with me! I guess the nature is kind of dangerous and full of... radiation... I figured out. But I bet we could do some urban hiking. I'm better at that anyway."

Edited 2013-06-07 07:15 (UTC)

"Urban hiking, is it? I'm not familiar at all, but I suppose it couldn't hurt."

The magical girl inclination to stand on rooftops in the middle of the night notwithstanding; she doubts that has anything to do with hiking of any sort at all.

But it would be nice to get to know the city with at least some of the same caring and understanding she had for her hometown. She sips at her tea, eyebrows lifting in curiosity (and a bit of good-natured needling).

"Would you recommend it, Mr. Souma? Or since you're rivals, does that mean I will one day have to take sides?"

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i guess it could be worse

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give it a week guys you won't be thinking about space ships any more

but will u still be thinking about nitoh's butt? (we all know the answer)

who deleted the notif for this was it me (spoilers: it was me)

wtg shay

paps shay

weeps openly