<@Grysar> [Date: Friday April 2nd. It was a day with a chill win but bright sun, requiring a regular removal and donning of jackets to stay comfortable.] <@Grysar> [Thankfully the weather yesterday was perfect for hanami and the spot and timeslot Taki went to considerable late effort to reserve allowed a contemplative enjoyment. The mood was perhaps bittersweet, as friends prepared to go seperate directions, but at least the old gang was together one last time and enjoying one another's company. It's the first time you've seen Shizaru actually relax in months.] <@Grysar> [Taki's father is out tonight. Things seem to be going better at work and he's spending less time sleeping on the couch. He was around midday and is looking forward to a little time with his daughter now that school is out, but for tonight he left you 5000 yen for groceries and another 2000 for something nice for the weekend and an apology that between work and social matters he's been out most nights this week.] <@Grysar> [The other day he even inquired how his outfit and hair looked, it was sort of weird, but Taki probably could figure out what he needed.] <@Grysar> [Nicola was able to work out some pretext to come over and you have at least a few hours together.] <@Grysar> [Start!] * Taki frets around the house making sure everything is cleaned up, the cookies haven't managed to burn themselves in the 30 seconds since she last checked on them, that her notes on trying to make up her mind the safe for normal people version, and that the other set of notes is safely buried in the tiny bookcase in her room. * @Nicola sends a text to Taki. "Arrival in 5 minutes." * Taki pockets her phone, eyes the cookes, turns off the heat, and puts her shoes on before heading down to the ground floor via the stairs, if she waited for the elevator there's a tiny chance that she'd still be waiting when Nicola arrived. * @Nicola arrives at the apartment building and steps into the lobby. She's wearing a white blouse with cute red polka dots, black pants, black boots, and a black jacket with red trim. Her hair is in a braid coiled into a bun. She looks a bit surprised at seeing Taki right in the lobby, but it quickly turns into a smile. * Taki smiles and waves back. She's wearing a blue blouse with cream accents running down the seams, a pair of slightly weathered jeans, and her regular shoes. "Hey!" * @Nicola walks up to Taki, shifting the large bag that she's carrying over one arm as she does so. When she gets closer, Taki can see that she's wearing slightly more noticeable makeup than she did at school: red lipstick and darker pink eyeliner. "Hello!" * Taki grins a tiny bit wider. "It's good to see you again. I guess we'll be taking the elevator back up if you don't want to lug all of that up the stairs." * @Nicola chuckles softly. "It is fine if you want to take the stairs. I carried it this far; I can carry it a bit farther." If you're okay with the stairs, then we'll take them together. * Taki doesn't quite bounce as she leads the way, but she's having to remind herself to keep pace with Nicola. * @Nicola manages to keep up fairly well. Her house doesn't have as many stairs, but maybe she walks a lot? * Taki climbs the stairs and then unlocks the door and lets Nicola into the apartment that she shares with her father. It's much the same as the last time Nicola was there, a small tiled area with a bit of wood and paper divider to seperate at least one side of it from the rest of the house on the right, and the beginings of the kitchen counters and cabnets on the left. Ahead of her is mostly clear until the far wall, but the couch, low table, and TV are lined up to give a sense of divided area between the living room and the kitchen area. * @Nicola steps in, sets her bag down, and takes off her shoes. "Thank you for having me," she says as she picks up her bag again. Then she reaches inside and pulls out a box wrapped in cheerful pale blue and pink striped paper. "For you." * Taki accepts the gift. "Thank you. I'll have tea and cookies for you in moment, but they're not ready yet. May I open it?" * @Nicola nods. "Please do." <@Nicola> [When Taki opens it, she finds a set of nested plastic rectangular measuring cups in a variety of colors.] * Taki picks at a corner of the wrapping paper, but it tears, so she just rips the rest of it off. "They're cute! Thanks." * @Nicola sits down on the couch. "You are very welcome." * Taki lays them out across the counter top, and then nests them again until she's ready to wash and then use them. Then she buisies herself in the kitchen to get the snacks ready. "I'll be over just as soon as these cool down enough to eat." * @Nicola looks at her. "Do you need any help?" Uuuuuhhh... The teacups are in the cabnet to the left of the sink, and ... * Taki trails off as she holds her hand over the cooling rack to see of the cookies are ready to pick up yet. "Teapot'll beep when it's ready, so that's pretty much everything until dinner time." * @Nicola gets up from the couch and walks into the kitchen. She easily reaches into the cabinet and gets out two teacups, holding them out for Taki's inspection. "These will do? * Taki nods. "Yep! Somewhere in the back there's a westen style one with a saucer, but I'd rather have matching." * @Nicola smiles. "So would I." She sets the cups on the counter near the teapot. * Taki giggles as she arranges the cookies on a plate. <@Nicola> [The teapot beeps.] <@Nicola> I can carry the cookies if you wish to pour the tea. I do not know where all your tea is. That sounds like a good idea, you like black teas right? * @Nicola picks up the plate of cookies once Taki is done arranging them. "Yes, I do." She carries them over to the table in front of the couch and carefully sets them down. * Taki moves to a large cubbord that's being used as a pantry and can be heard rattling cans. "Bah, I don't think I've got enough left of this looseleaf... do you mind teabags?" <@Nicola> No, those are fine. * Taki returns with a small basket full of tea bags. Most of them are the identicle bags of a cheap Japanese brand, but there are a few higher quality European bags that may have once been part of a sample set, and a couple eastern teas as well. * @Nicola picks out one of the nicer European teas. She settles herself more comfortably on the couch and casts a glance at the cookies. * Taki returns to the kitchen for the teapot and carefully pours. "You're welcome to them." Once she's put the pot down she sits closely to Nicola's side." * @Nicola takes a cookie and munches it thoughtfully. "These are very good," she says. * Taki relaxes and leans back and a bit into Nicola. "I wouldn't want to serve my girlfriend anything less than my best. Of anything that I can do or have done, my cooking is the one I take the most pride in." * @Nicola snuggles comfortably against Taki. "It is something to be proud of." She exhales. "Though it may also be that which keeps us farther away." * Taki rubs her head into Nicola's shoulder "Yeaaah... I know your sister was trying to help with that, and I'm thankful to her for it... I don't know, maybe she was trying to say I need to face that fear, or deal with it, or that she'd help, or something. I want to stay here with you, but I told Mikage I'd be her roommate. And it'd only be for two years at the most. And there's no * Taki way on earth I'd give this up for more than a week at a time." * @Nicola sighs, reaching out for Taki's hand. "I cannot say that I agree with my sister's methods, but her intentions were... in this case, I would like to think that they were good. And yet, good intentions may only go so far." * Taki takes Nicola's hand with both of her own and smiles up at her. "Your hands are warm." * @Nicola looks at her. "Are they?" Her smile is a bit sad. * Taki presses the one she's holding into her cheek. "Yep, but if they're feeling cold, just let me know, and I'll come warm them up." * @Nicola laughs quietly. "You forget where I spent most of my life." ... Okay, so it'll probably take a leeetle bit longer than I was thinking about when I said that, and I'll need to buy a heavier coat, but I'll still come. * @Nicola laughs a bit louder. "No, I do not think you will have to go that far." Then her smile fades. "I miss it sometimes, but I think I will be staying here in Tokyo for quite some time." She hmms. "Quite some time." That's good. Knowing you're still here will be extra motivating no matter which school I go too. But I would like to see your old home at least once. I'm pretty sure I've said it a few times before, but I've never left the home islands. * Taki adds after a few moments. "Maybe not in winter though." * @Nicola looks at Taki. "'No matter which school I go to?' I thought you had made your choice." I did, but the letter your sister brought is ... tempting. Even it would be a humoungous mess and be betraying one of my friends it's calling out 'Hey, I can make two of your dreams come true, it'll be fine, nothing will go wrong." * @Nicola squeezes Taki's hand. "I cannot say that I would complain if you changed your mind, and yet..." She goes quiet. * Taki presses her face into the back of Nicola's hand and mutters something that even Katie would have a hard time turning back into words. <@Nicola> I'm sorry? <@Nicola> What was that? * Taki blinks and then sits up a bit straighter. "Uh, something I probably shouldn't have said. I'd actually much rather have the problems I do now." * @Nicola looks confused. "I suppose that is good?" * Taki takes a cookie. "Absolutly. 'How will I keep my wonderful beatiful girlfriend happy' is a nice normal problem to have, and the best part is, if I solve it we're both happy." * Nicola looks at her. "Well, you could tell me things sooner." * Taki smiles sheepishly. "Well, first there was the 'running around inside my own head panicking' part, and then 'ask people who know more about what's going on than I do' part, and then 'what can I actually tell Nicola without getting her in trouble' and then more panicking and now I've mostly got my head back together and am only third guessing myself. I want to rely on yourstrength more, but I'm also afraid that I'd just get you hurt." * Nicola looks very confused. "How would talking about university plans get me in trouble?" I'm ... pretty sure that the reason Yamagata-san was there for our graduation was that we ran past each other in a train station while I was on my way back from Osaka, and she recognized me... It's not actually her that I'm afraid of, but one of her co-workers is the reason that I could't introduce you to my friend Satoshi... He moved to the far side of America to get away. * Nicola continues to look extremely confused. "This... this is the one who came up at graduation, yes? My sister was inquiring about his... brother? And someone in the school board drove him out of the country? Taki, in what, exactly, are you involved?" It's the same sort of stuff your sister is mixed up in, only she's a lot better at handling it than I am. I just want to live the most normal life that I can: open a restruant, make good food, and have my family, friends, and customers be happy. But, some people can't let the past be the past, or maybe they can't trust other people with the future. I'd like to be left out of it, but I worry that I won't have a choice. * Nicola pulls her arms back and folds them across her chest, fixing Taki with a sharp stare. "What is the history between you and my sister?" she asks in a very insistent tone. * Taki looks up as she tries to remember. "She was giving some other people advice and we were trying to find out where they were getting their information from. We asked her her help a few times, and I've got a fuzzy memory of her volunteering some advice, but I didn't understand what she was trying to say. She was on better terms with people who wern't in my group, so she was, uh... basically the weird fortune teller with all the belts until I found out she was your sister?" * Nicola frowns. "'The weird fortune teller with all the belts' is not inaccurate. And yet..." She continues to eye Taki intently. I think she's trying to help as much as she can, but either I'm bad at being helped by her, or she's bad at helping me... or maybe she's trying to help us by showing you what I'm like when I'm not at my best and just overthinking everything in circles. * Nicola continues to frown, sitting back into the couch. "Yes, well... well- intentioned meddling is still meddling, and if this is supposed to help us, I am not sure exactly how. Shove you into the river and see if you swim? Did she encourage you to talk to me? Would you have asked me to dinner if she had said to leave me alone?" Aaaahhh... That's a little more direct than I can imagine he being most of the time, and I'd like to think I'd have still asked you out, but maybe I wouldn't have been so persistant about finding places we could go and I definatly wouldn't have tried so hard to introduce you to my friends before graduation. Her giving me a bit of encouragement was one of the things that made our relationship feel like it was a real thing and worth fighting for. * Nicola sighs. "To be fair, she gave me encouragement as well... but I would hope that you would want this to be a real thing and worth fighting for regardless." I... tend to trust too much in what other people say. But you are absolutly worth fighting for. * Nicola raises an eyebrow. "Even if you have to go against my sister?" * Taki looks distant. "I'd rather not, but I have gone against the wishes of my friends before. If I thought what she's doing is wrong I'd try to convince her of that, but she might be able to change my mind too." * Nicola does not exactly look satisfied with that answer. "But there is not a reason to go against your friends now. Is there?" * Taki closes her eyes and leans back on the couch. "You're right. There is not a reason. I'm just worring over things I shouldn't, and I'm sorry to have troubled you." * Taki sits back up. "I'm willing to fight, but there's nobody that needs fighting." * Nicola reaches out and places a hand on Taki's arm. "I believe that you need a bit more time to think about things. I would be happy if you stayed, of course, but I would not want you to stay if that is not what your heart tells you. You in Osaka, well... it is not as if you are Shizaru-san's beau, living in America." * Taki leans into Nicola's hand. "That's another thing turning out better than I thought it would. Thank you for reminding me that the world is a much kinder place" * Nicola smiles a tiny bit. "Thank you. But think about things. What you want should be the first, not what I want or what my sister wants or what friends want or what you think that we want. Thus we work from there." * Taki nods. [End!]