Friend To All Living Things

"Animals are such agreeable friends, they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms" - George Eliot Fujikawa Kiku, Super High School Level Animal Behaviourist Status: Alive Affiliated with Archive of Despair II

[cybergata]

Kittens, raised with rabbits, have learned to imitate the rabbits’ behavior by hopping about.

[megurashkarchived]

wow

[tamascotchi-deactivated20190101]

ok hold on ive seen this cute video 3000000 times but did the black bunny rabbit just fucking phase through the fence?

[becausebirds]

The fledglings demand breakfast.

[delvingintotheblackabyss-blog]

The Hound of the Baskervilles [Starter for Fujikawa Kiku]

Kyoki Fujimori was not pleased in the slightest with the results of the team challenge. First of all, they had all been forced to play a ridiculous children’s game, which was terrible enough it itself, and secondly, she and the rest of her team had been sentenced to a lack of sleep for, well, God only knew how long, but she suspected it would seem like an infinite eternity. 

This wasn’t even the sort of suffering that Kyoki could be excited by, no. No agonizing torment, no unbearable pain being inflicted on every part of her fragile, vulnerable body, spraying blood all over the room in tiny little spurts and huge, thick, gushing fountains. No, simply… tiredness. Kyoki was no psychic, unlike many of her protagonists, but she could somehow tell that this was going to be incredibly unfun. 

At least, however, someone had agreed to provide her company through the night, and honestly Kyoki could not thank Kiku Fujikawa, whose room she stood outside at this very moment, enough for that. 

She was dressed in elegant silk pyjamas in purple and black, decorated with gold thread, her favourite set from home. Yes, she wasn’t going to be doing any sleeping, but she still wanted to be comfortable. On the floor next to her was a typewriter, one that had taken a great deal of her strength to move with her through the corridor, and in her hands were two gifts for the person currently occupying the room. 

Tentatively, Kyoki knocked on the door, loudly enough to be heard but politely enough to be quiet, and waited, her hands clasped and her eyes downcast.

[shslfluffytamer]

Kiku had been waiting for her patiently, simply organizing her room in the meantime. She would hold a visitor for a good deal of time after all. Extra blanket, check. Extra pillows, check. Shower taken and pyjamas on - a cute white nightgown that goes under her knees. Arthur was even brushed! (That's just to prevent extra fur to get in Kyoki's clothes since they'll be hanging around...) She had been feeding the fish when she heard the knock and grinned. It's her!

She runs to the door to open it, followed by Arthur, and just smiles at the girl outside, before opening the door further for her to come in. She snaps her fingers once to Arthur come near her and don't obstruct the passage. We both want her to come in, so don't go straight in front of her! How will she pass, then? She's communicationless as usual opening the door, so she just holds her arm towards the inside of her room, come in!!

Kiku also takes notice of the typing machine and as soon as Kyoki's inside, she goes out to tentatively carries it inside. ...But it's pretty heavy, she's not sure she can do it by herself. Whoops.

[morisquared-blog1]

Deerly Departed // Kiku

Mori believes she owes someone an apology. 

Red-chan had done a lot for Mori, even though they’d never really gotten to talk. Red was, after all the one who, with Arthur’s help, had helped Katsumi and Hua Yu to find the broken model in the depths of the big library. Mori hadn’t even gotten to thank him before… before Chinatsu had done what she’d done. But Arthur-chan was still here, though, and if Mori is right, then the dog is dwelling with someone else he’s long overdue to speak with, even if the speaking part would be a bit one-sided.

It’s only when she gets to Kiku Fujikawa’s door that he remembers that the animal behaviorist has her own room, and Mori’s face lights up for a brief moment. There’s been a lot happening lately, and it’s getting harder and harder for the model to put on a smile. But that’s his job, right? Besides, Kiku’s been nothing but nice to her…

"Fujikawa-chan?"

he asks as he knocks almost gently on the door. No need to disturb her, or Arthur-chan, if this is where the dog is.

"It’s Mori! Can Mori come in and talk to Fujikawa-chan?"

[shslfluffytamer]

Kiku wasn't really one to approach others herself, so it's no surprise she never really got to talk to the model before. She hardly approached people, although the model seemed really nice... If a bit quirky. Kiku wasn't one to judge, but the idea of referring yourself as both male and female was something completely new for this person of the countryside. She was curious to ask her about that, if the model didn't mind, alas her communicating problem was the main issue overall.

So, when she heard the knocking and the model's voice, she was pleasantly surprised. Although she didn't know what Mori would want to came to talk to her, instead of just approaching her whenever they encountered each other again, like the cafeteria or the beach itself. She stood up right away and opened the door with a smile- it is him. She waved, then nodded with her head and opens the door further and step aside for her to enter, motioning for her to come in. Arthur, who was indeed with her, perked up. She remembers her!

Presuming that the model enters, Kiku closes the door behind him and picks her notepad up again to write out at least a greeting for Mori!

"Hello, Mori-san! What can I help you with?"

[morisquared-blog1]

another attempt was made

who’s the heart for, kiku? :0

[delvingintotheblackabyss-blog]

Long intervals of horrible sanity { Starter for Fujikawa Kiku }

[delvingintotheblackabyss-blog]

As the door opened, it took most of Kyoki’s strength merely to accomplish the two Herculean tasks of not crying and continuing to stand, but she managed to move her head to look up at Kiku, her purple eyes wet and red from crying. 

Seeing Arthur made her happy, because the dog reminded her of Red, but it also made her want to cry, for precisely the same reason. At least, she noted, the dog would be in capable hands. It was what her friend would have wanted, and that thought cheered her up. Kiku was at least someone she could trust, someone who was sharing her pain. 

The writer nodded curtly at Kiku’s invitation, entering the room with her usual dignified posture, seating herself tentatively on the huge bed. This room was certainly much nicer than her own room, the one that she remembered with a bitter pang would never have her friend in it again.

 Kyoki seemed oddly fragile, as if the slightest touch would shatter her, and she spoke with a slight weakness in her voice. “Thank you very much for your kind hospitality, Fujikawa-san.” she paused. “I don’t want to be alone at the present moment, you see.”   

[shslfluffytamer]

Oh no... She really hasn't been doing so good herself, has she. Kiku wanted to know how she could help, but... She didn't know Kyoki very well to have an idea of what to do.

Still, she could at least keep her company if she wanted so, and that’s what she would offer. Closing the door after Kyoki enters, and just looking at Arthur waggle her tail at the speed of sound. FRIEND!!! She follows Kyoki to Kiku's bed and sniffes her hand and licks it, as excited as a cute dog would be.

Kiku also follows Kyoki to her own bed, sitting beside her comfortably, but picking her own notepad before she sat down. She smiles a bit at Kyoki, then just shakes her head. There's nothing to worry about!! She takes advantage she has now her notepad and writes in it:

"It's alright! I understand not wanting to be alone. I don't mind, either- and Arthur seems very happy to see you!"

That she did. Which in return made Kiku happy as well, since she hasn't been very well ever since Red's death. None of them were.

[delvingintotheblackabyss-blog]

Long intervals of horrible sanity { Starter for Fujikawa Kiku }

Kyoki had always found the description of losing a friend as losing part of yourself a cliche one. She considered herself an author at the top of the game, a pioneer, a literary genius. But it seemed that even she, pompous little idiot that she was, Kyoki thought to herself, was not above the dreadfully cliche. It would be funny if it weren’t so contemptible.

She’d never had a friend before. Sure, she knew what friendship was liked. She watched friends, saw how they talked and smiled and laughed together, so that she could write friendships. But she’d never had a friend herself. Kyoki had had her father, once, and she had her mother and she had her teddy bear, childish as it was. 

But she’d never had a friend. Not until Red. And now, of course, she learned yet again what happened when she allowed someone to become her friend. She knew the tropes, the devices. After all, how can the protagonist of a tragedy develop without, well, tragedy? She should have known this would happen. 

But now she was lonely. She was alone, and cold, and no amount of words, no matter how lengthy and impressive and grandiose, could change that. She couldn’t stand to be alone, not right now, and so the novelist was seeking out the one person who she could trust.

Standing outside the door of Fujikawa Kiku, her hands behind the back and her gaze fixed firmly on the ground to hide how close she was to breaking down into tears, she knocked on the door and waited. Kyoki didn’t think she deserved to not be alone, really, but she couldn’t help herself. She had to try and escape that feeling. 

[shslfluffytamer]

Kiku didn't take too long to answer, being in her room this time. Well, she was mostly confined to it now, but she did regular walks with Arthur that prevented her from being locked up all day long. She'd take good care of Arthur even if it was the last thing she'd do. She was sure Red'd have wanted her to take good care of Arthur, even if he didn't officially said it. Red cared too much about Arthur to want her to get neglected, and who better to trust with an animal than the animal person?

That might be a bit conceited, but she was aware Red trusted her with Arthur, he also demonstrated that twice. Besides, she might not believe in herself most of the time, but she knew she was good with animals. She thought of it a lot as a sort of compensation for her deficit (her selective muteness) along with other things. She just didn't say it out loud, at least not often, she was far too humble for that.

Once Kiku opens her door, she finds Kyoki on the other side. She isn't exactly surprised, per say, but she's a bit puzzled. Is she okay? Well, no of course not, but she didn't know how badly this was affecting her, besides the fact Kyoki already showed herself very fragile towards Kiku like someone begging for help. Surely seemed like this affected her terribly but why? And how exactly? She wasn't sure, but she wanted to know, so she could help her.

Seeing Arthur coming up to look and sniffle curiously at Kyoki, she reminded herself of her manners, and as she didn't have the notepad in hand - Kiku, you dork, you weren't going to open the door for an animal - she waved her own hand towards herself, and stepped to the side, attempting to invite Kyoki in.

[beautyqueenshsl]

AOD2 Text Posts: Part 2

I have three exams today and look at what i did instead

[delvingintotheblackabyss-blog]

Fiat justitia, et pereat mundus { Starter for Fujikawa Kiku }

Kyoki Fujimori had gone through a range of emotions. Grief was the first, of course. That was only natural. Sadness. Despondency. Despair. And those emotions still filled her from head to toe. They weren’t anything new, really. Kyoki had always felt these things. She released them with a pen or a typewriter, letting her misery flow out onto a page and create bleak, dark, cold worlds void of love or joy. 

And, of course, hand in hand with Misery comes her charming husband and business partner, Rage. Kyoki had, of course, felt rage in the past. Mainly directed towards herself, she would often deem herself worthy of all the ire and scorn she could muster, of all the pain she could bring herself to inflict, but today, the rage wasn’t all for her. No, she was furious at every person in the chain that had lead to the death of her first friend. 

She was fairly high on that list, true. After all, she knew her life was both written and performed as a tragedy. What else should she have expected? But there were others on that list, too. There was the dragon, and whatever hackneyed, unoriginal, attention whore was behind her. And, of course, the person whom Kyoki could bring justice upon most effectively: the killer. 

But she would not investigate alone. She could not stand to look upon that face, looking almost like he was sleeping, cliche as it was, alone. And having thought for a while about who she could trust at least somewhat, she came to a conclusion. 

Knuckles raw, skinned, and still rather bloody, she set out, every movement precise and measured, a cold determination exuding from ever pore, until she found the room she was looking for, next to which was the person she had been seeking, crying on the floor. 

With a dignified curtsy, Kyoki began, her tone more matter-of-fact and brusque than the usual rambling prose. “Fujiwara-san, I believe. We have both lost a dear friend on this day. I am here to seek your comfort and aid, if you will oblige it, and to likewise offer mine. I am also here because this act of direst cruelty demands justice or vengeance, and you are the one whom I trust the most to help me.” 

Reaching a hand out, something in her tone and posture shifted, and her voice became quieter, her demeanor that of an upset child. “Please help me, Fujikawa-san.” 

[shslfluffytamer]

Kiku had meant to go to her room and lock herself away from the world forever, but she didn't even managed to gather strenght enough to unlock her room and get inside. She simply sat down in the corridor near it and started to cry silently. She held Arthur in a fashion similar to Red, actually, who was also still whining. Ah yes, the trio of girls who were grieving their friend.

Once she heard Kyoki, though, she looked up. Her face covered with tears and a grimace ever present. She had always been a crybaby but this was bad. This really was. She listened this girl quietly, she remembered seeing her with Red a few times but never actually talked to her. Her usage of words were oddly choosen in her opinion, although not too hard to understand. And it was somewhat odd that although they have never talked before, she said she trusted her the most.

But what caught her attention was the change of posture and the different tone entirely, along with the words. ...Right. She wasn't alone in this pain, there were others like her and Arthur hurting from this. Red wasn't as friendless as he would talk himself to be. She brushed the tears off her face the best she could quickly, rose to her feet and nodded firmly. Yes, this... This needed to be solved. For Red and for all of them. This was no time to crawl in a corner and cry her eyes out as much as she'd have liked to.

The almost forgotten notepad was suddenly useful, as she held it and started to scribble in it once again. She hadn't wanted to talk to anyone, but alas, things weren't about to go her way just because she wanted to. Starting from her friend's death.

"I'll be happy to help you... Thank you for trusting me. We do need to find who did this. It's not like Aku-chan will let us have time to grief..."

[shslfluffytamer]

"You don't have to wait anymore. He's not coming back." [Body Reaction]

Kiku has been walking for a while now, and although she has great stamina at times, she's getting tired. This rain isn't helping at all, even if she put a coat over her usual clothes, she didn't actually get an umbrella. Her walk doesn't take much longer, however, if for entirely different reasons than she hoped for.

Body announcement. Her body tenses up. Someone else's dead.... She hoped it wasn't anyone she knew very well again. It was bad, she hated it even when it was someone she never spoke to, but...It'd be certainly different if it was someone she had already spoken to, and it wouldn't be a good difference...

Thinking perhaps she'll find what she was looking for - or rather, who - she forces her feet there anyways. It was said to everybody go there, right? So she'd most likely find! As the rain started to stop, she left her coat behind.

And she did find who she was looking for. Except it wasn't how she thought of at all. She didn't expect it- it didn't even cross her mind such a thing could happen. Which was ridiculous. They were in a situation ANYONE could die, but her brain refused to process some people were also vulnerable to it. Even if she had been looking for this person for a while. Even if...

Even if the body of said person was laying in front of her, lifelessly.

It took a while for her to get out of her shocked state, and when she did, she walked to Arthur. As soon as her eye changed from looking at Red, she couldn't bring herself to look at him again, and she just. Went to Arthur without looking at his body. She holds her by her collar and seems to brush some of her fur. Arthur isn't wanting to deal with her, though, so she keeps trying to get away and try to wake Red up. However, this IS still Fujikawa Kiku, and she eventually has her way with Arthur and takes her away from Red's body, although unwilling from Arthur's part. The girl silently walks away from the maze, ignoring anyone that might have been around of have tried to talk to her, pulling with her a whining dog.

Once she was sure she was alone, she said in a low whisper, but with her own voice to Arthur, and Arthur only:

"I'm sorry......"

[thedogbitesback-blog]

Easy as a Walk in the Park [Kiku starter]

[thedogbitesback-blog]

Don’t get nervous and back out now Red, come on. The idea had seemed fairly simple in his mind but now he’s faced with the actual thing his heart leaps up into his throat with a resounding No. As he forces it back down - will you chill the fuck out holy shit - he nods to Kiku.

"… sure, I mean, why wait. Shouldn’t be hard. Maybe like… tap me or something. That’s a start."

It’s only Kiku, relax. Kiku couldn’t hurt someone if she tried, most likely. Then again she could probably just talk local wild life into doing it for her.

"Oh yeah, and by the way, if you ever need to practice talking, I’m here for that. I won’t even say shit back if you don’t want."

"Though maybe you should just try Arthur instead!"

Is he laughing because he’s nervous or because he’s genuinely amused. Who knows. 

[shslfluffytamer]

Tap... Well seemed like a good start as any. As odd as it sounded anyways. It'd be a brief thing, and it didn't involve a lot of skin being touched. Hmmm. Maybe the shoulder was a bit too invasive, though? Or maybe it's just because last time she got slapped for it, but she thought it'd not be a great idea.

That's... That's a very sweet offer, Red, but it doesn't exactly work like that. She can talk just fine... on her own. But she understood what he meant in general- if she decided to try to push herself further, he'd try to help somehow. And it did mean a lot, so she nods with a rather shy smile. Yeah. Yeah maybe she'll try to push herself further... Maybe she'll start talking to Arthur and pretend Red's around. That could work, she can talk to animals just fine after all.

Okay so. She scribbles down on her notepad "Okay then, I'll try it!" as a first warning, then put it down. And... subtly... reaches above his head. Pat. It's pretty soft and she doesn't let her hand linger for longer than maybe a second or two because she isn't sure of his reaction, but hey. That should be fine, right?

[thedogbitesback-blog]

Easy as a Walk in the Park [Kiku starter]

[thedogbitesback-blog]

He’s no good at asking things of other people. Spent too much time living for himself, but sometimes he can’t just keep this stuff up on his own. So, two things that Red finds difficult that he’s doing anyway today: apologies, and requests. A+ Red, good job.

"I’m trying not to be such an asshole to various people. Maybe get some better impulse control. Because seriously, it seems half the people I’m punching recently have no real business gettin’ punched by me."

Just get to the point, Red.

"I’m trying to desensitise myself to the whole… touching thing. Like, I’ve never minded people hitting me, but - you saw, I hit you when you just tapped me on the shoulder. Shit ain’t right. I was hoping you might… dunno, be able to help me with that."

He reaches down and pets Arthur for a little bit of courage.

"I don’t mean any weird shit, just, you seem like a good place to start. Bein’ not an asshole and all. I’d get it if you say no, though. ‘S a weird request."

Basically, you are the baseline of non-threatening people Red can start out with this new test of his own endurance on. And maybe it eventually won’t be endurance. Maybe he can trick his own fight-or-flight response into going back to normal levels.

[shslfluffytamer]

Red... Why are you punching people. Tsk, tsk. She'd shake her head in a motherly fashion, but she's busy listening. It's probably to save the 'why must you be so violent' for later.

... Oh. Kiku hadn't really noticed about the touchy thing. She just assumed it was because he was in a shocked state of mind. It's not like she's very touchy so she hasn't really tried to touch Red outside of that context- and now she has learnt that it was a bad idea. She smiles a little at him blushing and saying stuff about weird shit - she hadn't thought of anything like that! why would she? - and nods. Sure, she'll try to help the best as she can! She lets go of Arthur to write down

"It's no problem! I'm happy to help. I'd know what is to have weird responses to things. I still can't talk to anyone here properly."

Well, she did use the notepad to talk, but talking properly, by being verbal, was still off the charts. It's rather bothersome.

"How should we start trying that, then?"

[thedogbitesback-blog]

Easy as a Walk in the Park [Kiku starter]

[thedogbitesback-blog]

The rain starts to fall more heavily, and Arthur scoots a little more under the shelter of the table and the umbrella over it. Red watches absently as it bounces off the leaves on the bushes nearby, before noticing that Kiku has written something on her notepad, and quickly scans the page. 

"Y’ don’t have to if ya don’t wanna. Though you look like you’d be good at baking somehow. Don’t ask me why."

Something about being caring and having attention to little things. That ties in with baking skill, apparently, in Red’s head. He shoves a few more cookies in his mouth before he sees he’s basically eating them all before Kiku can get to them, so he slows down, letting Arthur lick the crumbs off his fingers. 

A thoughtful silence falls over him for a while as he watches the rain, and feels Arthur settle against his feet. She makes a good leg-warmer like that. In general she’s good for these sorts of things.

"… hey, Fujikawa. Can I ask you a favour?"

[shslfluffytamer]

Kiku doesn't mind too much he takes a while to see. She also wouldn't mind baking cookies either- she can certainly do that to most people here, no problem! She'd say everybody, but she wouldn't really be willing to make them for Jin or Genji. Wonder why. She shrugs slightly to show she doesn't mind either way. She smiles a little with the compliment. At least she was taking as a compliment, being good at baking was a good thing. Whichever the reason he thought that was.

She notices he starts to slow down with the biscuits and just smile a bit. Well. He tried. Not that she'd mind much at all, she did take those for him anyways. She decides to act as if she hasn't noticed, it's not such a big deal anyway. She decides to lean a little and pet Arthur instead while eating her cookie. Good girl.

At his question, she looked back. Huh... A favour? He didn't seem like the type to ask such things... Maybe it was related to the terrible experience he had to go through? Either way seemed serious enough, and with a hand petting a dog and another with a biscuit, she decided to simply nod. Yes, go right ahead Red.

[hidingfromthingsfornow]

in which the narrator continues to demand genre-savviness | open

[hidingfromthingsfornow]

Eh…the look on Kiku’s face said it all. It was already established that she did speak nonverbal, so she wasn’t gonna push herself in where she wasn’t wanted. And no one even liked sitcom plots anyway. …Going for the paper stuff was still important, but surely if Kiku wanted to search her own room then she’d have to do it herself, because Ameya wasn’t checking her own damn ID and wandering around uselessly if she could help it.

"The Narrator regrets her choice of words as soon as Murasaki-chan starts tearing up! Um, did she startle her? That was a bad idea anyway. She gets it. Especially since that would leave Glasses-creeper-kun all to himself, and he doesn’t deserve it. She will live to it, or at least get better at her roundhouse kicks without delivering panty shots along with it. That’s a lie, The Narrator lives for the panty shots."

She pouted and peered at the nearest door’s nameplate. Was it just her imagination or had they alread been walking for a while. She’d definitely been walking for a while. Ahaha, wait, this was her own door. Ameya you idiot. “For the record she apologizes for her overzealous conduct. She doesn’t actually care. Well, she does, but she’s not gonna make a scene about it. She is just not used to in-a-de-quate lodgings. She wants to think she’s too important for that, but murder game was probably specifically set up this way. People don’t kill when their every need is accounted for. Can’t be too cushy, and you don’t seem like the killing type, Murasaki-chan. If you don’t mind her saying so.”

[shslfluffytamer]

As she mentions regretting her choice of words-- and it's a good sentence too, maybe she really just didn't choose the right words and Kiku took it the wrong way! Maybe - she smiles a little and brushes her eyes. She isn't really that mad, then.... That's good! Kiku wouldn't have known what to do otherwise...

They had been walking for a while. Well maybe Ray distracted herself and imagined them standing standing of walking but that doesn't matter anymore. They were walking now. It's much more convenient this way. And so they did pass through Ameya's room, and eventually reached Kiku's. Before she realized that, though, she smiled sheepily and nodded at Ameya's comment on her being the "killing type". Then she turns to look at the door and notices. !!! She lightens up and unlocks the door with her ID, then hurry inside.

Nevertheless, even if Aku-chan did say she got the best room, the interior astonished her. Oh... This was much, much more than she has been used to all her life. She paused a little at that, especially because is that an aquarium, but then she looks around again and she finds it. Paper and pen. God has mercy on his children. He really does. She goes and picks it up, sighs of relief, then she quickly scribbles away. She has been wanting to communicate properly for quite a while now!

"I'm sorry, but I don't think we can actually share the room, Aku-chan said something about roommates being non-negotiable, right? I wouldn't mind letting the room for you, although I do prefer to not have a roommate... I'm sorry!"

She quickly holds out to Ameya. Here!!! Communication!!! GOD BLESS PAPER AND PEN!!!

[thedogbitesback-blog]

Easy as a Walk in the Park [Kiku starter]

[thedogbitesback-blog]

Well, the benches aren’t too wet, so that’s good at least. He sits down, and opens the box of cookies, immediately shoving one in his mouth. Pretty good! Tasty, sweet, right amount of crunchiness. Not that Red would stop eating even if it tasted nasty. 

"Mmmph. Thsh ish pr’tty good."

Don’t talk with your mouth full, Red…

"Hey, Fujikawa, you make these or..?"

Arthur keeps sniffing at the table, so Red raises his hand. She sits obediently, and then he breaks off a bit of cookie with no chocolate in it, crumbles it, and lets her eat it out of his hand. Share and share alike.

[shslfluffytamer]

Kiku tries to make any remaining water dry out quicker, but quickly shrugs and sits down as well. She doesn't immediately shove a cookie to her mouth, not only because she's not Red about food, but because he got to it first. She just patiently picks another and eats at her own pace. They have a lot of time to kill, so there's no need to hurry, right?

She smiles happily-- Oh good, he liked it! She choose something rather generic in hoping he'd like it because she didn't remember knowing what exactly he liked to eat or what he liked to eat more. Well, like any minimal observant person, she had noticed that he ate whatever food he choose to eat like a dog- quickly and merrily. It was rather nice, in a way that he enjoyed it so much, not much the talking with mouth full part. She didn't really mind, though. She's sure he knows about manners and simply, likely, discarted it because he didn't care enough.

Then she blinks, smiles and shakes her head lightly. Oh, nooo- well she could have if she wanted, but she liked having time to cook. And she had to meet him at a determined time, so there was some restriction in time. She decides to explain to him though, and putting the rest of the cookie on her mouth, which resulted in a bit being left out. Small mouth, small bites and slow eating didn't make for her eating a full cookie in that frame of time.

"Oh, no! I didn't want to risk getting late here, so I just got some I've found in the kitchen. I could make some next time, though."

[vrumivrumi]

Thorn in My Side | (Kiku)

[vrumivrumi]

Things were going swimmingly! Rumi had always been a little worried about possibly intimidating Kiku. Aku-chan had made her cry one too many times. Added stress from those troublesome characters would also pose a problem. Would Rumi allow herself to tack on extra worries? Nope! And she was certainly doing her job.

…Until Kiku brought up sleeping.

"Ahaha. Erm, that is…" Okay, though the actual sleeping part wasn’t so bad because she’d run out of energy at juuuust the right time, the waitress still didn’t like falling asleep or waking up in her room. It was like taking a shower. Getting in was bad because you’d have to remove the warm clothing you had been used to wearing, then stand under the shower head, and sometimes it would take a while for your body to adjust to the temperature. Getting out was also bad because your body would have already become accustomed to the water’s temperature, and typically the area immediately outside the shower was cooler than that. Now imagine all that but in a situation where the heat of the water couldn’t be adjusted. That was essentially what Rumi had to go through.

She sighed and ceased the nervous smiling. Yeah, it was better to make this situation less uncomfortable.

"Alright, I haven’t actually been sleeping well," she admitted. "If you recall, I have the worst room… I sleep in a cot with no blankets and there’s a really annoying draft." Now she just felt bad. Wasn’t Kiku all the way up there? Room arrangements couldn’t be changed, so worrying her with her own troubles was unnecessary.

[shslfluffytamer]

Oh, Rumi, you silly. Aku-chan was a dragon trapping everybody here and telling them to kill each other, of course Kiku would cry a lot at her! But Rumi was all smiles and comforting words, there was no need to feel intimidated at all! That's how she saw it, at any rate.

Kiku tilted her head a little, curiously looking at Rumi. ...Did she say something wrong? Oh no, she hoped not... She had no idea what she said that'd make Rumi react like that at all, so she resolved to wait for her to speak up. Patiently. ... Okay not so much she was feeling nervous she fucked up somehow, but...

Oh no! Now she was definitely worried. She did recall something about really low ranked rooms but she didn't know how those were like. That was so unfair...! Aku-chan had no right to do something like this! Except, well, she could, but that was still so unfair. Then, she had an idea, and scribbled away in her notepad.

"That's terrible, Kumomi-san! This room placement is really unfair... I could share one of my extra blankets with you, though! So at least it shouldn't be cold!!"

Ah yes, the good feeling from doing a good deed. Or, at least, it'd be if Rumi accepted it.

[thedogbitesback-blog]

Easy as a Walk in the Park [Kiku starter]

[thedogbitesback-blog]

You’re only proving his saint theory, Kiku. All of those worries he had about having scared you off were apparently for nothing. Still, he’s… relieved, to say the least. 

"Like a cat?”

"Well that’s a new one. Yeah, I guess that works."

He looks down at the cookie box, and then over at the park benches. The sky above looks like it’s about to start chucking down rain again, though it’s only been drizzling for up until now. Looks like some of the park tables have umbrellas they can sit under, so that’s good.

"Wanna share these with me?"

Because that’s the best way he knows how to make up with someone - share food.

[shslfluffytamer]

Kiku, like me, didn't realize how odd would it be to call him a cat of all things until he spoke up. She blinked, and then smiled a little sheepishly-- Whoops? Well, he said it works, and it really does even if in a odd manner, so! She didn't slip in a bad manner. Just an odd one.

At the question, she perked up, and nodded. Sure! What's better than sharing cookies with a friend? Probably nothing. Well, maybe petting animals with a friend, but still. No one is really comparing here! And they're good all the same. So she nodded, ready to follow him to the park benches with Arthur.

Besides, this was probably the first time she saw him smiling freely without it being directed at Arthur, so it was good, right? Right.