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Squishes Andi's cheeks. Yeah, she's satisfied! Soft like mochi. "Yep, all good now. You can go back to what you were doing."
andi is going back to taking a little nap, and blatantly ignoring the piles of undone paperwork in front of her.
@caintes
"Check it out!" She's holding something up to Bruno - it looks like some sort of animal: a poorly sewn outer shell made to resemble some kind of rabbit, hiding the internal framework of a small robotic construct (a project of boredom, mostly). "He doesn't do much, but he does take up the virtual pet role pretty nicely. Oh, also, he can do sound activated hopping! He might fall off a table though." › @caintes
“ oh, wow! ” chiemi knows bruno well- as in, she knows his weakness for machines and for small animals, and this is both! “ he doesn’t have to do much to be cool- sound activated hopping, huh? ”
“ pretty fancy for something that size! let’s see if we can fine tune his movements so he doesn’t fall off the table. i’d hate for him to break! ”
"Micchin." They put their hands on the sides of his face: playfully pinch the still-round cheeks, as if the apples of youth have stayed firmly planted instead of dropping off into the void - damn, that was hardly fair (somehow, he's almost unchanged). Well, Chiemi can hardly complain or ask for better skin nowadays (between a facial scar and the burns on her arms, she's seen better days), but she can be amazed that somehow he's come out of it fresh-faced as ever. Time may pass, but some things stay the same, right? It is what it is. "I bet you still don't even scrub your face properly, and that the lotion I gave you for your birthday when we were kids is probably unopened in a box somewhere. You look good, though!"
every time takemichi thinks he's gotten used to chiemi's casual touching, she goes and catches him off-guard all over again. maybe twelve years is too short a time to change habits, but it is something that he appreciates of them either way; maybe he was a little more touch-starved than he realized, but he lets her pinch him to their heart's content with minimal grumbling.
he appreciates being reminded of his perpetual babyface much less, though. his early twenties had been spent being eyed with suspicion by cashiers every time he tried to buy cheap beer on his way home, and coworkers asking what he was going to study after finishing high school. without his gelled up, bleached hair, he almost looked even younger at twenty seven than at fifteen, and he hasn't grown a single inch since where chiemi stands towering over him, he has no choice but to whine as he's forced to look up at her just to meet her eyes.
‘ i-i did use it! i promise! ’ which was, of course, another way of saying he opened it, appreciated the smell, smeared it over his skin once, and then proceeded to forget all about it until his mother complained about him keeping expired products in the bathroom... but they're absolutely right about him not scrubbing his face properly. ‘ but just some hand soap can do the job, right? soap is soap! ’
"Micchin, look, I found a cat. It looks like he has a collar, but he was alone, so I'm kinda worried." She's holding the cat in their arms, the orange creature just sort of - dangling there (clearly used to this kind of treatment from other people). They can just be normal for a minute, yeah? It's allowed. "Wanna help me see if there's any posters around? Someone's probably looking for him!"
she's right. takemichi leans down to be at face level with the cat, both blinking slowly at each other, and the collar glints under the sun's glare, but there's no tag with a name or a contact number to call. at least it seems fairly calm, and he reaches out to hesitantly scratch its chin the way he's seen chifuyu do with his cat. he's rewarded by a content purr vibrating against his finger, and takemichi can't just turn his back on someone in need of help, can he? even if they were little and fluffy. especially if they were little and fluffy.
all things considered, looking for a cat's owner felt like a mundane task, but... takemichi grins, and his shoulders feel light.
‘ okay! should we start at the park? oh, wait, hold him still let me snap a pic and send it to the guys, maybe one of them knows something! ’
being hired for grand events hosted by notable high-brow families was usually the type of job the likes of fine or knights would fit like a glove, not the team of newcomers with varying degrees of experience thrown together like ratty, old patched-up cloth. though tatsumi knows his juniors are filled to the brim with untapped, roughened potential, it is a difficult thing to advertise in an industry that cares so much for first impressions and clogs the paths to more job opportunities with each blemish upon their image; for that, the rest of alkaloid eagerly scatter around the locale to help in any way they could find, and they leave tatsumi to deal with the more diplomatic parts of the event.
‘ you must be chiemi-san. thank you for allowing us to perform in your venue; if there is any specific requests you have in mind, please let us know and we will do our best to fulfil your wishes. ’
( @caintes ! )
he … doesn't … know … what … happened. it's quieter now, at least, than it was about half a second before, when he had been awake &. around the crowd of people. all he remembers is that he'd felt faint, &. try as he might, he hadn't been able to make it away in time. &. that's just the worst thing to be happening to him during an event like this … ! he should be standing proud &. conscious, a perfect representation of everything alkaloid stands for ! but he couldn't … he's ended up here now, blinking through the haze of his vision until he can see again &. stir again. it doesn't take very long at all for the shame to hit him. shame &. exhaustion.
@caintes. "I thought you might need some water after all the talking you've done today. " They're holding out a bottle, gently: the kind that's allowed by security, carefully checked so it can be given regardless of setting (she understands the need to check food and drink - one wouldn't want an idol catching ill from a fan with a bad mindset). In truth, they're trying not to explode, just a little; close proximity to someone you admire will do that to you, after all - even with her own background, still gets nervous. "Meet and greets like this must really wear you out. I hope you get to rest up later!!
he blinks hard a few more times, looking over at the voice. he doesn't recognise who it is. it's no one from alkaloid, he has enough sense to realise that. he's sure he might have seen them in the crowd at some point, but he can't garner the energy to root through his hazy memories for it. all-in-all, this might just be the calmest he's ever been around someone new, if only because he feels like he's just been hit by a truck. ❝ … thank you … ❞
eventually, he does find enough life to take the little bottle, staring blankly down at it as he unscrews it. he's still vaguely aware of the embarrassment he should be feeling, but he's not feeling anything very much right now. she doesn't look like a doctor of sorts, &. certainly isn't dressed the part. once he has a sip down, he looks over at it. they must be one from the audience. but then why would they allow her back here ? ❝ … didn't i see you in line … ? ❞
* . ゜ semi-prompted ! 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚗.
@caintes said : The mages here are always different from the kinds of mages he's come to expect: not necessarily a bad thing, but perhaps the side effect of how he was raised (ah, well, even this world's Chiemi had turned out different, too). Ren tries his best - an attempt not to look menacing, though he's unsure if it works or not; he's always had his father's face, that hawklike stare. "Must be scary, huh? Having to deal with all that Lostbelt stuff. Chie said they've been through six or so now. Probably why they're so run down."
Nix looked over at Ren, not intimidated in the least by his expression. She had seen far more ‘scary’ things during her missions and so gave the stare no second thought. Instead, he was greeted with a small smile and a pat on the empty chair beside her. “Take a seat and relax.. And I will admit going into the Lostbelts can be scary. You would have to be in possession of Madness Enhancement yourself to not feel at least a little afraid. Though we are all able to proceed onwards in spite of it.. But yes, it does wear us all down as well. This summer was no exception, even if it was a Singularity, not a Lostbelt.”
❝ don’t touch that [ ... ] it’s not a toy. ❞
@caintes, liked for a one liner ( accepting! ) for ren.
