fandomhighdorms | Fourth Floor Common Room, Mid-Afternoon, Sunday

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Fourth Floor Common Room, Mid-Afternoon, Sunday

Not such a strange occurance in these past few days, Sakurazaki had slept in very late. She was still groggy when she woke up, but at least her shoulders weren't hurting her anymore. Sundays were meant to be lazy, anyway, so she went ahead and wore her hamaka and robes today, shuffling over to the common room because she was getting a little sick of being in the room and she didn't want to go outside. She packed a few things in her sachel to keep her occupied (she wasn't really one to watch television): a notebook, a pen, her English dictionary, and one of the many, many untouched Edo romance novels she'd brought with her.

Reaching the common room, she gave it her first approving look, was a little disappointed that no one was there, and then curled up in the corner with the book.

[[OOC: Open~ natch. wastin' a few hours before work.]]

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Her eyes get a little wide. "Is there really a patron saint for that? Catholics sure cover all their bases, don't they? Although, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a Buddha for that, too, so I guess I should just stop talking now." She grins, relaxing again, sinking her shoulders back against the soft couch.

Jude chuckled. "'Sokay, bra, I don't mind. You can talk all you want about anything, I'll listen." He scratched the back of his head as he sprawled into a seat by her, hurrying on. "I mean, I think it's kinda cool that there's a saint for everything."

"There's a Japanese god for everything, too," she said, beaming slightly, although she didn't know why she was beaming. "Over thousands of them. And if someone came across one that they didn't, but didn't exist, they made them up! And, poof! There was a new god. Shinto's a pretty versatile religion, in that respect. Not so versatile when it comes to the training...."

This pulls a long sigh from Sakurazaki. "I miss training...If I didn't have such a rough night last night, I'd probably be in the gym right now. My skills are going to turn to jelly here."

Heh, look who was babbling now.

Jude got lost somewhere in the switch from religion to requiring a gym, but he blinked and went along with it. "That's really cool about the Shinto thing," he said. "What kind of training do you do?" Then he blinked, processing a bit backwards but still getting there. "You had a rough night? What was wrong? You okay now?"

Sakurazaki was full and ready to go into her schpiel about Shinmei style, a schpiel she enjoyed emmensely, but before her mouth could fully open and her finger was fully raised matter-of-factly, Jude asks the questions she should have known were going to surface. Her hand drops and her mouth closes with a sigh.

And she had to quickly figure out what to say. She didn't intent to mention it to anyone; she didn't intend to let something like that slip. But she had also decided that she wasn't going to intent to keep any secrets about herself anymore. However, in her consideration, she came up with feasible answer that she hoped didn't give too much away.

"There was a problem, back home," she said, recalling it with a deep frown and a fierce scowl. "I was up all night trying to fix it..."

Jude winced sympathetically, but he was relieved that nothing had happened to her. "Harsh, bra. Is everything alright?" He tried to sound non-chalant at his next question. "Are you gonna have to leave?"

Sakurazaki's teeth clenched and her hand near the arm of the chair was clutching it as though she would rip it apart. She was desperately trying to get a hold of her chi, to control this sudden anger, but it was really difficult, remembering the whole ordeal. Sharply, she reminded herself. Breath in. And out. With a sigh comes calm. She does it again, closing her eyes, and releases the poor arm of the couch.

"It was a test, they said," she responded, unable to keep sharp emphasis away from her annoyed words. "Everything was fine, and nothing was ever wrong. They just had to test to see if I could do anything in case anything did happen...."

Her face has paled significantly, and the look of fierce anger behind her flickering eyes is probably significantly frightening.

Scary face! Jude hesitated before putting his hands on her shoulders, trying to extend his own aura of unharshable zen-like calm. "Setsuna. Calm down," he said slowly but firmly. "It's gonna be okay."

Sakurazaki jumped at the touch, and it quickly flooded into her head that this was actually the first direct physical contact she'd had with another person since she arrived, unless you count a brush or two of the shoulder with Ranma-san under the umbrella. And it totally blew all thoughts out of her mind. Every. Single. One.

But only for a second. Escape plans popped up in her head, and the dreaded the fact that she already was squeezed up against the arm of the chair and there was no where to run. Colour back in her face, a rich and vibrant red flush, she just tried to keep herself from shaking.

"Y...you're right," she said, albeit a little too quickly. "I mean, it's over now and...and...and at least nothing really happened, right?"

Her smile was quavering, and she tried to keep her eyes on him and not his hand.

"Right, bra," Jude said with a mellow smile, squeezing lightly for moment before letting go and leaning back. "You sure you're okay?" he asked, concerned. She clearly didn't like to be touched suddenly and Jude sat back so that she had a clear route to the door. He may appear to be totally out of it, but he was usually good at picking up these sorts of things. "Setsuna?"

Once the hand was gone, it was like she could breathe again, and breathing meant calm. She sucked in air through her little nose, released it in another sigh. Her head was kind of hurting, but not nearly as much as her chest. Calm down, Sakurazaki, calm down. No harm done, no harm to be done. It's...all....okay....

"Yes, I'm fine," the slight smile was stronger now. "I'm sorry about that, Jude. Sometimes, I...I'm not good with...people sometimes."

"No, bra, I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head. "I forgot you weren't one of my friends back home. It's totally cool, I'll back off." He glanced towards the door reluctantly. "If you want me to go . . ." he said even more slowly than usual, obviously not wanting to go. He wanted to help but he didn't know how.

There was something about the way he said that, not one of my friend back home, that really touched her in a way that made her throat tight and her heart drop well past her stomach. She didn't know why, though, and just dismissed it that it was merely that her emotions didn't know what to do with so much work lately.

"No," she said, quickly. "I don't want you to leave. If you leave, then all I have is to just dwell, and that doesn't help anything. Although, if you want to, by all means. It's not very fair of me to just explode my issues all over you like that and then expect you to want to deal with them. They're my issues, not yours...I'm the one who needs to learn how to deal with them."

[[OOC: yay no more work!]]

"I'm very good at explosions," Jude offered quickly, then tried to shift into suave. "I mean, if you need someone to talk to I'm really really good at listening. But I'd rather not leave," he added with a smile.

[[Yay!]]

"Well..." Smiling softly, Sakurazaki considered ways to move out of this really, really unfortunate and uncomfortable circumstance. But she still wanted to explain things for Jude better...not only did he have a right to know after all that, but she was going to try to be more open about who she was, what she does, and what she is.

"Here, let me show you something." She reaches for the sachel at her feet and begins rummaging through it.

"Remember how I mentioned that, if we go to Japan, we can stay in a palace?"

She hands over a photograph (), the edges of it slightly wrinkled. On the left, looking slightly surprised, is Sakurazaki dressed like a samurai; embracing her with a beaming smile is a girl on the right, dressed like a Japanese princess.

"That was taken at Cinema Village, in Kyoto. That girl I'm with is who's place we'd be staying at. Ojou-sama, my Kono-chan." Sakurazaki's smile grows, her cheeks flush slightly. "She's what this whole mess is about. Since I was five, I've been her protector...but it's very difficult to protect someone when you're half-way across the world, so when they told me something was wrong and I'd have to do some magic all the way over here, I became really worked up...even if it was just a test. I still can't help but feel like me being here is a mistake; what if something does happen, and I'm not there to do what I'm supposed to do, you know?"

Her voice has a very strange quality to it: it is soft, wistful, and remorseful all at once. It's also melts slightly with relief, as if her shoulders are now lighter for having said something about it.

[[OOC: the version of that photograph that I used to have seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth, but this one's not a bad rendition...I wish I could just scan the damn thing from the books right now. hehe.]]

[[OOC: computer's being stupid. Won't let me link the photograph. >_< http://www.deviantart.com/view/32839495/ ]]

Jude looked at the photograph as he listened. Protector. Magic. Too far away. Right. Cool. "I hear ya, bra," he said simply, handing the photograph back. "Sounds rough. I'm not anyone's magical protector or anything but if somethin' happened back home and I wasn't there I would totally feel the same way. Almost." He stumbled to a verbal halt, scratching the back of his head. "So, I hear ya, bra."

Carefully, she tucked the photograph back into its safe place in the pocket of her notebook. "Good," she said softly. 'But, you know, for future reference, if I'm getting like I was just there, it most likely has something to do with Ojou-sama....I think you two would really get along."

She considered for a moment where else to take the conversation. "Then again, I can't see either of you not getting along with anyone. You probably have a lot of really good friends back home. You seem quite personable." She smiled in a way that showed that she was envious about this trait of his.

Jude chuckled. "Dunno, bra, I can be pretty annoying sometimes. And there's plenty of people who don't like me much, but I don't worry about them. I'd love to meet your friend. You should totally meet my friends, too. I think they'd like you because they like just about everyone that I do."

She also chuckles, although hers is definately a small, short one. "That's good; sometimes I feel like I need all the help I can get when it comes to stuff like that. I never really realized it, but being raised when everything is pretty much about training, training, training, you don't exactly experience a 'normal' life..."

"That's the main reason I'm here," she adds sharply, as though it's something she's supposed to include. "To know what it's like to be 'normal.' Although I'm thinking they might have made a mistake when they chose the school..."

"Totally, bra. Fandom is not your typical high school experience. And we haven't even started classes yet." Jude nodded sagely.

Now she actually laughs...a little.

"I'm actually hoping the workshops will help bring a little normalcy. At least some sort of routine, you know?"

"What have you signed up for? Maybe we've got something together. It'd be nice to have a friend when going in for the first time."

"Uh, the beach one, the campfire one, and the Scoobying one," Jude replied, squinting as he tried to remember them all. "But I'm gonna sign up for somethin' else. Just haven't figured out what yet. What about you, Setsuna?"

"Karate, Archery 101 (I really need to work on my range attacks), Documentaries, and..." she pauses, not because she's thinking, but because she's a little loathed to admit this next one. "...Arts and Crafts." She quickly throws in her defense, "I'm only taking that one because Ojou-sama said I had to."

Jude chuckled. "That's cool, bra. Arts and Crafts can be really fun. I like makin' pottery." He blinked. "Manly pottery, of course. Documentaries sounds like might be fun. I could totally do mine on extreme skateboarding and get my roommate to help."

"Documentaries fascinate me," Sakurazaki blushes about that. "I'll probably do mine on Shinmei style...if I get permission from the Masters, because that sort of information is not to be treated lightly. But Japanese fighting in general would work...But, your roommate, he skateboards, too? How do you like your roommate?" She pauses, having more questions, but thinking that three questions in a row is pushing it.

"Nah, bra, not yet," he replied easily. "But he seems pretty cool ~~even if we haven't interacted in a week~~ and totally into the extreme thing so I think I can get him to help. We're gettin' along pretty good so far. What about you, bra? Like your roommate?" He blinked, realising something. "'Do you have a roommate' should probably been my first question."

Not yet? Sakurazaki's eyes grow slightly wide for a second, wondering when the time will come when Jude might try to make her learn how to skateboard.

"Yes, I do have roommate, and I do like her, very much," she responds with a smile. "I havent' seen much of her, but she's very nice. She reminds me of Ojou-sama." Sakurazaki remembers those slippers all too well. "Perhaps a little too much, but it helps that she's got very blonde hair to help distinguish the two."

Jude grinned. "That's great, bra. But hey, if you ever need to escape you know where to find me. We can break ourselves out of here and hit the town."

Angling to spend more time with her? Jude? Naaaaaaah. Nope. Surely you jest.

"Actually..." she says after a soft smile and a realization. "I don't think I do know where to find you. Which room are you in? I know I visited you yesterday, but I paid absolutely no attention to which room it was. I was just following the sounds of zombies."

"407, bra," Jude replied, holding up the appropriate number of fingers in sequence. "Like the highway." Which is how he always remembered it.

"I'm not familiar with the highway," she says with a laugh, "but I think I can do all right without the reminded. 407." She nods her head. "Got it."

"Good." Jude smiled mellowly and then ran out of things to say. So he just kept on smiling in what he hoped would come off as sweet rather than creepy.

[[Bed soon for me. Ugh.]]

She smiles back, at first, but then, slowly realizes how awkward just sitting there smiling at someone seems, even if it does seem to be the most appropriate and fitting thing to do. Besides, she should go do, um...stuff. Training, or....something.

"I wonder what time it is," she says, searching the common room under the assumption that there should be a clock in a common room, but, even if there was a clock, she wasn't really going to look at it. "I only really intended to be here for a while, reading til the mail came. I'm kind of expecting something from my sensei back in Japan. Even in a different country, he still wants me to do homework. It's probably here by now..."

Hoping it wouldn't be too rude, Sakurazaki gathers her stuff into her bag and stands. She smiles down on Jude. "It was really nice talking to you, Jude. I apologize for getting so worked up. Letting out...really helps." She sighs there, a happy, wistful one.

[[OOC: No problem; should probaby wrap the past up anyway. :) ]]

[[OOC: oh, and in a few minutes, I gotta leave for a fun, fantastic eight hour shift....(very) slow play is encouraged by me (i hate having her leave when she's going all psycho), but if you'd rather close it out now, that works as well...a nice thing about a backdated scene is that it doesn't interfere with activity in current things too much]]

[[Totally cool as I go and read up on your fandom so I know why she's flipping out! *trips off*]]

[[*laughs* i think it could just be summed up as social anxiety disorder, but we'll get to that later; I'm gonna be late! ^_~ See ya in ~~a few~~ eight miserable hours...yar, work]]

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Fourth Floor Common Room, Mid-Afternoon, Sunday

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