|
Posts
|
17
|
|
Arcana
|
0. FOOL
|
|
EXP
|
|
|
Tag
|
@calico
|
|
OOC Name
|
Teddie/Cyan
|
|
The FIrst Step of a Long Road [Isolde/Awakening] - Posted Jan 11, 2019 15:31:05 GMT -7
|
|
|
The sound of noodles being prepared contrasted with the gentle pouring of the rain outside. Of course it had to rain. Seiji had managed to find a free minute or five in his busy schedule and hoped to spend it with Isolde, teaching his prim, proper, pious underclassman a thing or two about anime. He'd actually been browsing internet forums in his free time, brushing up on the subject himself. It was pretty amusing, the way that Takeda always growled words of disapproval when he saw Seiji sneaking some manga away to read - not because he cared about Seiji stealing or anything, but because he hated the stuff and made that fact clear to anyone who asked.
Seiji looked outside and saw the blood meridian in the western sky, that red line caused by the setting sun. The rain clouds above him did not go overly far. He hoped that the rain would let up soon, but luck where the weather concerned was never with him. The smell of freshly cooked ramen mingled with the smell of cigarette smoke as he enjoyed the sight of the evening redness in the west. He'd kill for a cigarette, although it would sure set a bad example for Isolde. It felt petty to him that something as insignificant as a minor smoking could ruin his chances of getting into a good university. American kids didn't have to worry about that too much, he heard.
A news report on the little television in the building pulled him from his thoughts in a fashion most dramatic. It was always like that in the television dramas he watched, Seiji mused. The words of the news anchors were always pregnant with foreshadowed significance. Looking up at the TV, he saw the words 'SYPHILIS CASES TRIPLE' and snorted. "I don't think Isolde or I will have to worry about that." He commented dryly, earning him a momentary look of confusion from the man behind the counter. The old fellow quickly lost interest in the quips of a high schooler and went back to preparing ramen for the customers who had actually ordered something instead of insisting on waiting for someone else.
Reaching into his backpack, he pulled his phone out and shot Isolde a text message. "Just my luck. It's raining on our ramen parade. You still want to come?" He hoped that she would say yes. It was nice to shoot the shit about an idle topic rather than discussing the upcoming school festival, the various health concerns of the nurses, the kendo tournaments that happened over the summer, and the hundred other concerns of the student council. Seeing no one was looking, he seemed to deflate, laying down in his folded arms on the counter top. Exhaling, he rested his eyes for a minute.
"Hey, kid, you alright?" The old man making the ramen asked as he handed a bowl to the person sitting next to him.
"Just busy. They sure train you for adulthood well in Japanese high schools."
"That accent. You foreign?"
"Military brat." Seiji replied curtly.
"Well, take care of yourself. I give my own kids an earful about being out on the streets after dark. I don't one of them to be the next person on the news."
"For syphilis?" Seiji knew exactly what he meant, but he said it anyway.
"No, you idiot. The disappearances."
"Ah."
Seiji had heard about those disappearances. It was all very clandestine. Takeda and him joked about it being a serial killer. Considering there never seemed to be a body, he somehow doubted that was the case. Regardless, he sat up and looked around for Isolde, wondering if he'd see her or hear the buzz of a text reply first.
|
|
|
|
Posts
|
18
|
|
Arcana
|
III. EMPRESS
|
|
EXP
|
|
|
Tag
|
@isolde
|
|
OOC Name
|
Sky
|
|
The FIrst Step of a Long Road [Isolde/Awakening] - Posted Jan 11, 2019 17:48:37 GMT -7
|
|
|
The sound of a buzzing phone alerted her to a text message sent by Seiji which consisted of a rainy day on ramen night. "I am still coming, please wait until I get there." She wore the same wardrobe as last time with one exception: her blonde hair seemed to be tied into a long waist-length braid, resembling the way Jeanne tied her hair. With the sound of gentle pouring rain, it was oddly relaxing and thankfully, she prepared an umbrella in case the weather decided otherwise. It was the first time that she would eat ramen at an authentic ramen noodle stand, something that seemed to be a bit scarce back home.
After a while, she arrived at the designated destination where she saw the ever so familiar manga store assistant who helped her the other day. "Good day. I do hope the rain will let up, but I suppose gentle rain is better than when it rains hard." She would sit near him while the aroma of freshly cooked ramen filled the air. If she had to guess flavors, she was sure that there might be some of her favorites on the menu. Alas, her status as foreign royalty would mean she would be susceptible to the public eye.
Being alienated because of her class difference made it hard to befriend people, but hiding that fact was a blessing. "I have never been to a ramen stand before, so I am looking forward to trying different flavors." Assuming that there were different flavors of ramen that people from all over tried in Japan, perhaps she could get some sort of recommendation. "The last time we spoke, I did not get to talk more about my home, but I can describe it briefly for you. My country is the smallest and only surviving sovereign Grand Duchy in all of Europe which is governed by a constitutional monarchy. Our economy is thriving and our historical castles were the former residences of the royal family, save for one which serves as a secondary residence." For once, she was happy to talk about this with someone she just met the other day.
She looked down for a moment. "I apologize that I lied about who I am. I used a fake last name to protect my true identity, so I could enjoy a normal life. My real name is...Isolde Guillaume and I am a close relative of my country's current ruler."
|
|
|
|
Posts
|
17
|
|
Arcana
|
0. FOOL
|
|
EXP
|
|
|
Tag
|
@calico
|
|
OOC Name
|
Teddie/Cyan
|
|
The FIrst Step of a Long Road [Isolde/Awakening] - Posted Jan 11, 2019 21:39:38 GMT -7
|
|
|
Seeing Isolde walk up to the stand was a relief. Seiji breathed a happy sigh and nodded towards the free seat before turning to face the owner of the shop. "I'll take beef and pork in mine, please." A pang of hunger threatened to break through his monotone. Seiji absolutely abhorred the cheap ramen that could be bought in bulk at almost any supermarket. This was the real stuff, the showstopper, the stuff that people remembered when they went home. "Glad you could make it, Isolde." Those lips curled into Seiji's idea of a smile, which looked like either momentary confusion or momentary constipation to the average observer.
"This summer rain sure is something." Seiji remarked, now focused on Isolde. "My dad used to talk about the rain in the deep south. He said it was this awful, thick, soupy rain that made you feel awful. Nothing romantic about it, the way movies like to make rain out to be." He was reminiscing, mostly to himself. Isolde just happened to be there so he did it out loud. Realizing he probably needed to engage with her, considering they were about to share a meal together, he added "Also, you look good." It was stated matter of factly, as most every word that passed through Seiji's lips was.
He was going to go on and make small talk. He was going to ask her if she had the chance to watch that anime they'd talked about recently. There was going to be a bit of gentle teasing about rumors getting started. It was going to be the typical sort of conversation a pair of teenagers might have together while bonding over ramen noodles.
Isolde saw fit to steer the conversation in a completely new direction. When she first gave him a bit of background on Luxembourg, he nodded appreciatively. Having briefly perused the article on a certain free encyclopedia, he knew most of what she was talking about. Indeed, while browsing this certain free encyclopedia, he noticed that Isolde shared the same last name as a certain princess of the ruling family. It was something that he dismissed out of hand. There could, after all, be multiple people in a country named Isolde. It turned out, Isolde Schroeder and Isolde Guillaume were one and the same.
Seiji ceased making eye contact with her. His arms were still folded on the counter in front of him. His amber eyes faced forward, not focusing on anything in particular as he processed the information that had just been given to him. Perhaps she could have been dismissed as a Chuuni or a Himedere, but she likely did not know what either of those things were. She didn't boast of her evil eye or make an epic speech. So, Seiji had to assume either she was telling the truth or she was lying. He found those sort of lies, the ones done without motivation, to be the strangest of all lies, but he didn't get the impression that she was lying either. Two years on the council had trained him to spot a liar.
Finally, he bobbed his head up and down in a long nod. "Okay." He accepted what she had to say and turned to look at her once more. "Do you not feel like it might be a bad idea to tell that to me? Especially here in public, where anyone could overhear?" He felt another lecture coming on and stopped himself. "Do what thou wilt."
|
|
|
|
Posts
|
18
|
|
Arcana
|
III. EMPRESS
|
|
EXP
|
|
|
Tag
|
@isolde
|
|
OOC Name
|
Sky
|
|
The FIrst Step of a Long Road [Isolde/Awakening] - Posted Jan 12, 2019 10:06:47 GMT -7
|
|
|
The reaction to her latter statement was met with confusion and being chastised that she should not reveal this sort of information in public. "You are right, I should not be revealing this information, but I apologize if I made it awkward than it has to be." Oh joy, this wasn't supposed to be a good conversation if she just derailed it to her own personal problems though maybe she should just stick with the anime subject instead. "Anyway, I have started watching the anime called Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. It is a most excellent anime with interesting fighting scenes and a colorful cast of characters. So far, I have watched Parts 1 and 2, but I am starting Part 3 soon." At least, this was an anime worth getting overly excited about.
When the man at the stand asked if she wanted anything, she responded courteously. "Just the beef, thank you." Aside from the now complete collection of the Sailor Moon manga being read currently, there was many more anime she could watch on her own time. So many people seemed to like Jojo which was saying a lot, considering that the action scenes were the focal point. Besides Sailor Moon, there were more popular magical girl anime like Lyrical Nanoha and Madoka Magica. To the Japanese people, it probably seemed like she was just overly fascinated with their animation.
She couldn't forget the duty she had to her country, but it was a miracle that she wasn't even subjected to a strict schedule. "Is there any holidays or festivities in summer that I should be mindful of?" If there was a sort of summer festival then she could look forward to that.
|
|
|
|
Posts
|
17
|
|
Arcana
|
0. FOOL
|
|
EXP
|
|
|
Tag
|
@calico
|
|
OOC Name
|
Teddie/Cyan
|
|
The FIrst Step of a Long Road [Isolde/Awakening] - Posted Jan 12, 2019 13:34:36 GMT -7
|
|
|
Seiji waved the notion that the conversation was awkward off. "Eh. Don't worry about it. We're teenagers. All we do is talk about ourselves anyway. At least you have something interesting to say." The cook sat down a bowl of ramen in front of both of them and Seiji clapped his hands together, muttering a quick prayer of thanks. The smell of ramen wafted up into his nostrils and he found himself licking his lips. He'd heard about this ramen for months now, but he'd never really had an occasion to come here before.
"Glad to hear you got through the first two parts. A lot of people tend to get bored with Phantom Blood. It ages well once you have the context of the rest of the series, at least. You're in luck, according to my brother. He's watched JoJo since it first got released about eight years ago. Meanwhile, you get to watch all the way up to Stone Ocean. It's some good stuff." At once, he moved beyond the subject of her bloodline and where she was from. Ultimately, they all came from somewhere. It wouldn't do well to suddenly treat Isolde any differently.
"We could watch Part 3 together, if you wanted. I quite like parts 3 and 4. 5 and 6 are in vogue right now since the anime-only crowd finally got in on the bandwagon." He sure was talking a lot about JoJo. Isolde asked him about festivals. He ran a hand through his hair, thinking back to what they were talking about at the student council. "We're having our culture festival in late June. All the clubs are doing different events. As a member of the student council as well as the health club, I've been tasked with coming up with what the health club does. So far, I'm spitballing free health checkups for anyone that wants them. Not like anyone ever comes to the health club anyway."
He sighed. "Work sure does suck. I can't wait to grow up if I have more of this to look forward to." It was a dark notion, dark as the sky outside. Seiji glanced back and noticed that it seemed to be a particularly dim night.
|
|
|
|
Posts
|
18
|
|
Arcana
|
III. EMPRESS
|
|
EXP
|
|
|
Tag
|
@isolde
|
|
OOC Name
|
Sky
|
|
The FIrst Step of a Long Road [Isolde/Awakening] - Posted Jan 12, 2019 21:33:19 GMT -7
|
|
|
She nodded as Seiji remarked that Part 3 was really good and that she should be able to reach up to Stone Ocean. While many people seemed to be bored of Phantom Blood, she didn't mind its pacing and the way it did explain how the Ripple worked with dealing with vampiric enemies. "I really enjoyed Phantom Blood despite how short it was. I could relate to the main protagonist, but I was saddened that he had to die at the end..." Maybe the author intended it to be that way since the nice characters always seemed to suffer more than the bad ones. It was probably a more common anime trope than she thought, but the entire show did allude to a curse that any Joestar had a tradition of dying young.
Seiji then offered to watch Part 3 with her which wouldn't be a bad idea to experience the show together anyway. "I do not mind watching Stardust Crusaders with you, but um...my own father is quite overprotective over me. Thankfully, I would not let him know about your presence." After all, what kind of father would not want their own daughter bringing home strange boys over though in her case, she might explain that he was merely an acquaintance. When he described various activities including the culture festival and free check ups from the health club, she decided to say something about said culture festival. "I never heard of a culture festival before. Is it one of those festivals where you learn about the cultures of other countries?" Depending on his answer, she might hit close to the right interpretation of it.
Last but not least, he mentioned that work sucked for him and wished he could grow up quickly. "Perhaps we all have a desire to grow up quickly, but we should make most of the time we have as adolescents." She began eating her ramen as soon as it was delivered to her, savoring its taste. It wasn't so bad and it was probably much better than the restaurants back home that served ramen along with those bento boxes. "All I ever wanted in life was to be an ordinary teenager as I was given everything in the lap of luxury. When you have servants who do everything for you and end up here without any knowledge of doing anything for yourself, you have to learn to make lunches or cleaning your room without their aid."
|
|
|
|
Posts
|
17
|
|
Arcana
|
0. FOOL
|
|
EXP
|
|
|
Tag
|
@calico
|
|
OOC Name
|
Teddie/Cyan
|
|
The FIrst Step of a Long Road [Isolde/Awakening] - Posted Jan 13, 2019 13:37:12 GMT -7
|
|
|
"Your dad has nothing to worry about when it comes to me." Seiji stated plainly. "Maybe this is too forward but, well, I've read enough books to know how stories of romance involving princesses and paupers." Seiji looked rather somber when he said that. "That said, feel free to not tell him about me all the same. I'd very much like to avoid getting a team of hitmen from Luxembourg after me just because I'm a very thorough tutor." He gave a dry laugh to his own joke before working on the bowl of ramen in front of him some more, thinking over how to answer her next question.
"Culture festivals are about the culture of the school in question. The culture festival at Futaba High is actually pretty good, since we hold ourselves to such a high standard. Last year's president made me go with her on tours of other culture festivals, both within the city and elsewhere." He looked haggard as he uttered the next sentence. "Which was fun until rumors started to spread. I'm sure you know how it is. Anyway. All the clubs show what they're about. Everyone does their best. The school pours a lot of money into it because a lot of parents visit to see if they want to consider sending their kids to the school. Futaba High has a reputation to maintain as the best and brightest school in the area, so we have to go out of our way to maintain that every year." It was absurd, how much pressure was put on people so young. Seiji thought about that a lot. He mused over how unfair it was, much like most teenagers tended to do.
"Trust me. It's a lot of fun to walk around at the festival. Every year, one of the classes thinks they're being original and cool and does a group date cafe. Dunno how that started, but it sure does happen every single year. Hardly anyone goes, and I still don't know quite what the point of the group date cafe is supposed to be. A lot of the clubs will bake some really, really good food. Because of my part time job, I sometimes get roped into making takoyaki for some of the clubs."
What Isolde said last stuck out in his head, though. He could see where she was coming from, but he envied the prospect of not having to worry about where his next meal was going to come from, or having to clean his room for himself. "I guess the grass really is greener on the other side, Isolde." He wasn't going to tell her how poor he was. His pride wouldn't allow for that. "But, well, from my unexpert opinion, from the outside looking in, you're doing pretty alright for yourself."
|
|
|
|
Posts
|
18
|
|
Arcana
|
III. EMPRESS
|
|
EXP
|
|
|
Tag
|
@isolde
|
|
OOC Name
|
Sky
|
|
The FIrst Step of a Long Road [Isolde/Awakening] - Posted Jan 15, 2019 21:54:41 GMT -7
|
|
|
It seemed like he had concerns about hitmen trying to kill him if he was dating their daughter. She could relate to that somewhat, but she didn't think it would be an even greater deal. "Do not worry, there will be no hitmen after you as long as I explain myself. Speaking of princess and pauper romance stories, is there anime that has this premise?" Perhaps there might be such an interesting premise that had been done many times, the only one she could think of was Code Geass. Other than that, some of her favorite movies seemed to incorporate that concept altogether and it was definitely the most overblown trope.
As he described what the Culture Festival was about and a group date cafe being the most talked about tradition as every class seemed to hold it, it might be a bit interesting if anyone knew the concept of dating overall. "A group date cafe sounds like fun, but as I understood about the concept of dating, I believe dating is about getting to know each other better." However, she could probably understand why a group date cafe was kind of silly when you could just be alone with a special someone on a real date.
Seiji told her that she was doing alright despite her lack of knowledge of taking care of herself without servants to do it for her. "Really? I am still learning how to cook meals for myself, including school lunches, but I am getting there. With due time, perhaps I can whip up a nice lunch for you." At the very least, it was something that she enjoyed at her own leisure and also had her be independent for once. With enough practice, her mistakes would be far less than when she first started out in the first place.
|
|
|
