350/They Were Roommates!

They Were Roommates!
Date of Scene:	02 September 2023
Location:	Pikarigaoaka Ward
Synopsis:	Michiru has moved into Setsuna's mansion. She's got her own little wing. She leaves the door to her music studio open when she sits down to practice, and thus summons Haruka to her. They are so incredibly in love.
Cast of Characters:	Michiru Kaiou, Haruka Tenoh

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Michiru Kaiou has posed:
When Michiru left the mansion last Saturday, she had every intention of returning on Sunday with her things. What do fifteen-year-old heiresses know about the logistics of moving house? Still, with all the resources of Kaiou Industries--an international shipping company--at her beck and call, she did manage to move in within the week, spending last night in her bed, in her room, in the mansion. She had a plan to surprise Haruka, and she knew it would be perfect.

The mansion is rather large, and her rooms--she has three: a bedroom, an art studio, and a music studio--were in an entirely different wing than Haruka's. So it was very easy for her to go unnoticed the night before, and for most of the morning. She ate a simple breakfast in her room. She spent several hours working on a painting. But then, just before noon, she went into her music studio.

She'd paid for some contractors to come in and add some soundproofing inside the room. She didn't want to bother anybody with her practicing. But today, well today she left the door open on purpose. She means to practice rather loudly in hopes that her music will draw Haruka through the house to her hallway, and to her.

The music does carry through the house. At least she waited until nearly noon. Sorry not sorry, Setsuna.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
Of course, having Michiru and Haruka under the same roof - voluntarily so, at that - meant Setsuna probably had to be ready for some degree of shenanigans. If she didn't expect that, well, that was really all on her. She'd known the two of them for so very long, after all - longer than they all fully remembered.

    The music of Michiru's playing floats down the halls, and much like the sirens of old, it draws someone handsome to hear it. But this handsome person was only a Sailor in a different, non-boat related form, one she had forgotten. Haruka is walking towards the kitchen for a refresh of her coffee when she hears it coming from the wing of the place she very infrequently visited. She blinked. That was... familiar. Haruka wasn't a student of music - far from it - but she had developed a taste for the classical playings of one particular violist. And it sounded an awful lot like hers.

    But, she was expecting a recording, not the real thing. Which meant that she was decidedly less put-together than Michiru had likely seen her. While she wouldn't be able to be perfectly attired for the rest of her life with Michiru, she'd have liked to preserve the illusion slightly longer. Instead, she's standing at the door in simple bluejeans, wearing a wrinkled t-shirt, cup of coffee in her hand and just staring at Michiru, at Michiru having a room, at Michiru being... here.

    The happy/confused/shocked expression on her face may well have been worth all of the work to move in quietly.

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
Some other girl might have opted for a technological solution, but why would Michiru when her driver, Takuya-san, could simply take the photograph for her. The older gentleman snapped a couple of photos with Michiru's phone then walked from where he was poised--clearly waiting for the moment Haruka made that very face, that _expected_ face--over next to where Michiru was still playing rather vigorously. It was an energetic piece with a lot of fancy syncopation. Very technically complex. He set the phone down on the table next to Michiru, and then murmured, "Call me, when you need me, Kaiou-san." He left, walking right past Haruka.

While still playing, Michiru speaks, "I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away. Setsuna wanted me to surprise you. How could I say no to that?" The piece finishes off with a rather intricate sequence and then she's done. She brings her instrument away from her chin and sets it down in it's stand along with the bow. She gets up, and turns around to face Haruka, a big smile on her face. "Welcome to my little corner of the house!"

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Haruka doesn't actually respond to... most of it. She's still a little dumbstruck. And then after that there's the stillness of fight-flight-freeze when she realizes she looks like she just tumbled out of the dryer, hair to bare feet, wrinkled t-shirt and jeans and all. "Why... why are you... own corner?" she says, words coming before she's processed them or what's going on.

    And then there's a moment where the only thing her brain processes is that she picked the furthest-away corner of the house, which is a little dissapointing. And then a steadily growing percentage of wanting to take Setsuna on another race track adventure. But finally, she shakes it off and leans against the door, and just poorly tries to recover from the uncomfortably long silent stillness by acting like she just belongs there, in the doorway.

    "Don't you have your own penthouse place, though?" she asks. "Do you need two places to hold all of your stuff, or did you just miss me so badly that even at the speed I drive it was just too far away?" she asks, smile turning into that very smug one as she tries to casually, subtly, run her fingers through and sort her hair.

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
Michiru is dressed cute dark green dress made of layers of tulle fabric. There's a bow at the waist. Her sea green hair falls down over her shoulders and down her back like a waterfall onto mossy rocks. She's barefoot. She bounds across the room to leap up and throw her arms around Haruka's neck and kiss her squarely on the mouth. "Oh I definitely just miss you too much, my prince."

"But also, Setusna's lonely. She wants us both here, and I can't argue. I don't like living with the ghosts of my parents," she says as she lowers herself back down onto her heels and lets her hands slid down and rest against Haruka's shoulders, her arms drawn between them. She looks up at Haruka. "We all spent so much time alone in our castles. This time around, we should spend our time _together_."

She bounces up to steal another kiss and then pulls away and gestures with both her hands as she turns around. "So I had them soundproof this. It's set up just like my studio at the penthouse. But I brought all my equipment over here. No need to duplicate if I'm not using it there." She gestures past Haruka to the door. "If you want, I can show you my art studio, too!"

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Haruka is at least getting more comfortable with Michiru's displays of affection and not completely going mentally offline when they're given. Or at least, not in her house. Setsuna's house? Their house. "Well, there's no ghosts here. At least, as far as I know." Haruka says, scratching the back of her head. "And if there are ghosts, I'll exorcise them for you." she notes. "Whether those ghosts are real or just the ghosts of your past, because I can fix the second by giving you a better present."

    "But I am, obviously, glad to see that you'll be closer to me." she notes. "And that you are as considerate as ever with the soundproofing." she continues. "I'm happy to go see anything you would like to show me, but... even though I'm sure you're as masterful an artist as you are a musician, there's no peice of art anywhere that can compare to the beauty of the woman standing in front of me...." she says, waving her hand a bit as though 'brushing off' the entire rest of the planet by comparison.

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
A slight flush rises up in Michiru's cheeks and she laughs lightly. "Flattery will get you everywhere, my prince," she says with a wink. Then she grabs ahold of Haruka's hand and starts to lead him toward the door. "I painted a piece this morning that I think you'll really like, but I've got a few other pieces up on the walls. I brought my favorites over from the penthouse."

Hand in hand, fingers laced together, Michiru leads Haruka out the door and down the hall just one door to the art studio. There's an easel set up to one side with a canvas on it, but the back is toward the door. But the thing that really catches the eye upon entering is a painting hung on the wall directly opposite the door. It is a rather large, unframed canvas painted in blues and blacks. It is a cataclysmic city-scape, skyscrapers tumbling into ruins as an enormous wall of sea water rushes in under stormy skies. An oceanic apocalypse.

Michiru gestures to that one as they enter. "I painted this one the other day, and then brought it over. It's meant to capture my rage." She says it so calmly, so matter-of-factly. Which honestly makes her rage all the more terrifying.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    "But I don't wanna be everywhere, I just want to be wherever you are." Haruka mock-protests. Haruka grips Michiru's hand back, almost-but-not-quite forcefully. She walks with her into the studio as she just takes in how much adoration she has for the woman - how much she likes even the little things, like how she walks or how her hair moves. How entrancing she is. How...

    Haruka sees the large image and pauses, for a bit - Michiru might feel the grip on her hand grow tighter and then looser. She looks at the painting. And pauses. "Your rage?" She asks, after a moment. "I didn't know you carried such rage." she continues. "I'm surprised that someone so elegant and graceful can carry such rage, or express it so clearly on the canvas." Haruka admits, talking before thinking as she often does. "It looks apocalyptic."

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
"So many of my dreams are," Michiru says, quietly. "There's something coming Haruka."

She squeezes Haruka's hand and then walks across the room toward the canvas. "This one, though. This one is about a very particular rage. Have you met Hotaru Tomoe?" Michiru looks toward Haruka for a moment, then back toward the painting. "I'm fairly sure she's one of us, though I'm not sure which like I am with you. But _somebody_ is using her for _something_. Setsuna dodged most of my questions. It think she's protecting somebody." Looking at the painting for a moment longer she laughs, and looks back at Haruka with a smile on her face. "Probably for the best. I was ready to murder someone when I painted that on Sunday."

She looks back toward Haruka. "That girl is precious. There's something about her. She's so lonely, too."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    "I..." Haruka is about to automatically say she hadn't, but the name rings a bell. "...Maybe?" she pauses. "Lonely girl... short black hair, maybe?" she asks. And then gestures at the appropriate height. "About this tall? I think she said her name was Hotaru. We met by chance, really, she was just... sad, and I can't leave sad kids alone..." she admitted. "You think she's one of us?" she asked.

    "Maybe not chance, after all. She said she was supposed to meet her father to go visit her mother's grave but he backed out at the last moment, and she was supposed to get flowers so... I drove her to get there before it closed." Michiru likely has an idea of how Haruka and 'driving there before it closed' lead to driving. "She did really seem lonely at times, yeah. I figured that was just like... mother passed on, father distant kind of loneliness, though." she said.

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
Michiru gestures to another painting hanging on the wall farther into the studio. It's clearly a portrait of that short girl with the dark black hair. The very one Haruka just described. But it's styled like a stained glass window and Hotaru is in a purple dress and there are rays of light that shoot out behind her. Nine in all in various colors. "I met her on campus and invited her over to paint her portrait. She had some sort of 'medical incident' when she saw it. But I know there's something more going on. I think this painting stirred a memory inside her."

She turns toward Haruka and looks rather sad. "I do not believe her home life is very good at all. From the conversations I've had with her, I've gathered that not only is her father distant, but also rather strict and overbearing. A terrible combination. I really feel bad for the young girl."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    "She seemed... fragile?" Haruka offers. "Like. Sickly, I wouldn't say that to her face because it sounds mean, but she was really pale and looked like a breeze might well cause a 'medical incident' if it blew her way." she continues. "But, I absolutely felt compelled to help her." She says, putting a finger to her chin. "I can't say that I felt it the way you describe, or that she stirred memories, but... I think you and Meiou-san feel those things more intensely than I do. Maybe I'm further away from it all." she muses.

    "Ah, the distant father with an overbearing strict opinion of who you should be." Haruka says, her face scrunching up a bit. "Has she considered running away and changing her last name? She might want to skip the punching part, though. That came close to creating more problems than it solved, and... she does seem fragile."

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
"She is very delicate, yes," Michiru says with a nod. "Setsuna's on the case, though. I am confident we'll get that girl into a better situation eventually. She's one of us. She deserves better." Hard to argue with that.

She takes ahold of Haruka's hand once more and leads her on toward the easel with obscured painting. "This is what I did this morning, though. Being so close to you I could almost _feel_ you in the currents," she explains. As they step around the easel, the picture comes into view, and it's them. Haruka in her tuxedo, and Michiru in her ocean waves dress. The outfits they wore to the school dance. They're in ballroom hold and they seem to be in motion. Michiru has really captured the moment, and it almost seems like they're ready to dance right off the canvas.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    "By better situation do you mean the same one you and I are currently in? Are you going to put some of that money you're saving on not renting that penthouse to adding another floor to Meiou-san's house?" Haruka asks, but she's smiling. And she's smiling even more when she brings her towards the obscured painting and she sees what it is. "Wow. That's... I was right when I said you're as good of an artist as you are a musician, Michi." she says, finding the shortened, close connected version of her loves' name to just fit. "Now you can share that moment with everyone else. Well, a bit of it." she adds. "As wonderful as this painting is... and as excellent a job as you've done capturing the movement... I could never, ever forget it, and it's even more vivid and vibrant in my mind." She says, and shifts from standing beside Michiru to moving behind her, bringing her hands over her shoulders and pulling the slightly-smaller girl against her gently, Haruka's head over Michiru's shoulder a bit. "I missed you terribly, even though before that moment I had never seen you, all I knew is that I missed you so much, and then when we danced, everything felt more right than it ever had before."

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
"Oh, no, you misunderstand. I'll still have the penthouse. I don't rent it. Kaiou International owns the whole building. I just moved my things here," Michiru says as she moves around the floor, following Haruka's lead. She finally ends up pressed against Haruka and she just sighs and leans her head back against the taller blonde. She lets her eyes close and just moves however the wind chooses to guide her.

"Not that I'd made a lot of friends yet. It was my first week. But, as soon as I saw you, everyone else disappeared," Michiru says, her voice all dreamy with her eyes closed. "I don't ever want to be apart again, Haru-chan."

If only it weren't for that pesky Destiny.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    "Well, then. I suppose between you and Setsuna you're both pretty well set." And soon, maybe, Haruka would tell them about her little side work as it brought in not-insignificant monies as well. But for now, she doesn't include herself in that.

    "I know what you mean. Part of the reason Meiou-san stood out is that after I met you everybody seemed... dull, blurry, almost. And she was one of the ones that stood out. Not in the same way or to the same level that you did, but I could at least -see- her while for most people, they became so much background noise." Haruka admits. "Now that I'm seeing you more often some of that is wearing off, but it helps that I don't just have to wonder when I'll see you again or think about how much I messed up by not giving you my number that dance." she admits, laughing a little bit.

    "If what you say is true, we've parted for too long once already. I don't know if any part of me could bear to do that again. So let's just not." Haruka agrees. "Honestly, my first thought wasn't even 'why do you share a house with me' but more 'why is your room so far from mine'." she laughs again. "Isn't that crazy?"

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
Michiru Kaiou lifts her arms up above her head and behind Haruka's, and then she turns her head to one side an tips it back so she can look up at the blonde with a naughty sort of grin. "You haven't even been in my room yet, my prince." She glances toward the door and then back toward Haruka. "It's the first door on the hallway. The closest to you in the wing. I just wanted my practice space to be as far away as possible so it wouldn't disturb." Except when she left the door open on purpose, of course.

She closes her eyes and leans back into Haruka again and lets out a happy sounding sigh. "It took them _so long_ to move everything in. I wanted to be here sooner. I wanted to be here _Sunday_. But I'm, here now, in your arms. And everything's perfect."

That certainly can't last. Especially not now that she said it. She should know better.