126/Roommate clean up

Roommate clean up
Date of Scene:	20 July 2023
Location:	Dorms
Synopsis:	Cho and Coco clean up the apartment... and have a nice discussion. About things. Things... may have a long term, massive, effect on their relationship. King meets Princess in this dramatic dorm cleansing adventure!
Cast of Characters:	Cho Konishi, Coco Kiumi

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Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi was, once again, doing the weakly cleaning. Granted, it wasn't like... a deep cleaning. It was just doing some basic wiping, cleaning off counters, vacuuming, that kind of stuff.

Not the most glamourous of duties... but Cho had always done it and at this point the routine stuck. So it was that one that day, after classes.... Coco would arrive home to find....

Cho going around their little apartment, moving things about, wiping down the counters and, most important of all...

She had cleaning products out. Spread across the floor as she cleansed up.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco is currently taking the long way back to the dorms, tired of being confined to a chair all day. 'It feels so good being able to move about now, one more second and I would have lost my legs.' The heat wasn't really conducive to an enjoyable walk, but she would rather be subject to that than having nothing to do inside the apartment. 'As I am now, I would probably be pacing around for a good while after.' Some minutes after though, Coco is finally at the dorms.

'Huh? What's all the movement?' Spurred by the unexpected sounds, she opens the door to check out what her roommate is up to. "Hey, Cho, I'm back! What are you doing?" She accidentally kicks a few cleaning products as she comes in, causing a domino effect. "Oh, sorry! You cleaning up?', she says, kneeling down to put the bottles she scattered back into position. "Have you been doing this for long?"

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi jumped a little, turning around, feather duster in hand. "W-what? Oh! Coco-san!" she said. What? They were roommates. AND friends. Also, her roommate wasn't from Japan, so she never seemed to really do the.... family name-thing. "No, I just started a little bit ago. You know what they say," she said sheepishly. "If you keep cleaning, it'll help make sure things don't get out of hand. Wait, no. If you clean REGULARLY, it makes sure they don't get out of hand. So that's what I'm doing. Sorry, I'll have this cleaned up in a minute," she said nervously, her cheeks burning.

Truthfully, she should have asked Coco to help, but... She felt guilty. Since the occasional fur that seemed to pop up was Wuwu's fault. And the little monkey was always a pain in the butt. Making random messes. Ugh.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"That's a good mindset to have. In fact, I have a bit of energy to burn, so I think I can join you", she says, tiptoeing her way to the bathroom and quickly grabbing a cotton rag from a cabinet. Normally Coco would require a great deal of effort to get her to move and do the cleaning herself, but the time she spent on land without her underwater memories has mellowed her out quite a bit in this regard.

"I can take the right side of the room, while you deal with the left side, is that ok with you?" Coco asks, while grabbing a bottle off the floor and applying a dust removal spray to the rag. "Has everything been fine today?" she asks, noticing the tense behaviour of her roommate.

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi blinked. "O-oh, there's no need for that!" she said quickly. "I can... do..." She trailed off before sighing. Actually, maybe some help would be nice. "Well... actually... okay. But ummm, I don't think that'll work very well. We could split up tasks? Like... dusting the living room, cleaning that area down while I finish up here in the kitchen?" she asked.

"Everything's pretty good, though. Just had a lot on my mind and stuff. How have your classes been?" she asked before she moved to wiping down the stove. THAT was probably the hardest part. But regular cleaning helped make it not... too incredibly awful, at least.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
With Coco's nod at Cho's proposal, she heads towards the living room, making sure not to cause another accident on the way out.

"That sounds good", she replies as she starts carrying out her assigned duties. "If you want to talk about your problems and unwind, I'm all here for it", she proposes, moving the rag in her hand through the living room's wardrobes.

"Nothing particularly exciting, but the worst part has to be how stir-crazy they make me. I just can't get used to the small places you have here", she raises her voice as she gets farther from Cho.

While dusting, Coco picks up a few strands of fur from all over the living room. 'I really hope the incident with the monkey isn't a regular thing, it must have been really hard for her if so'.

"Hey, Cho, do you have a pet?"

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi shook her head, not that Coco could hear it. "Oh, no, nothing major! Just... life. Thinking. About things. Finding, well. Them out. Learning myself? I guess? If that makes sense? Okay, it doesn't. Uhhhhhh.... I've been... studying, I guess. Kind of? Figuring out... uhhhhh..." She gave another sigh. Finally, she mentally gathered up the conversation and dunked it in the trash.

"Stir crazy? Is the dorm too small?" she asked, before laughing. "Sorry, they tend not to give school kids the biggest rooms. Honestly, I think we're lucky to have our own rooms. Some schools you just have the room and no front room or anything else."

The comment on a pet, however, made her freeze. She gulped. "N-no? Why? Did you want to get one? Like, a dog or a cat or something? There are a few strays running around, I think. So ummmm, you just gotta be careful of that if you leave the windows open."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Figuring out? What are you figuring out? I'm doing my own kind of figuring out with living here, so maybe we can figure out things together. Places here in Tokyo are pretty different." She freely talks, having gotten into the rhythm of cleaning.

"It's not like that", she addresses Cho's comment with a bit of an annoyance at her laughter. "I'm just used to wide spaces, you know. Here you have small sidewalks, which means people get in the way, in the classrooms you have desks on all sides which make you feel pretty cramped. It's like a world for fish schools here."

"No, I'm not asking because I want a pet", Coco contradicts her roommate. 'I already have otters who take care of themselves and are still ready to play at a moment's notice, after all', she adds mentally. "I was thinking you had one due to the fur I keep finding around here."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi wondered what she could even say. What was he figuring out? What? "My... self, I guess. Just... figuring out myself. The dance was fun, you know? I've never been asked to dance before." She gave a soft sigh before muttering the next part too low for the other girl to hear. "Never... been asked to much of anything, really," she mumbled.

"Small... sidewalks?" she asked softly. "Yeah, I guess they can seem that way. What were the roads like where you were from? Not many vehicles, I'm guessing? Did you live somewhere you could walk anywhere you needed?" she asked.

She gave a light squeak at the comment on fur. "A-ah... ha ha. I, err, guess someone's cat got inside? Weird, huh? I guess I shouldn't leave the windows open, sorry!" she said quickly, her face burning. "Maybe I'll get a spray bottle to spritch them next time I see them," she said, mentally screaming at Wuwu.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco says, "Yeah, I could actually tell that was your first time. You were that tense", comments Coco with a 'seen-it-all' kind of tone, a hint of smugness to her tone too. "But you did great. Putting yourself on the line like that takes guts, and you secured a pretty good catch too. Did you get his number?"

"You had absolute freedom of movement, not much you couldn't do, actually", she says with a sigh of nostalgia. "There wasn't a vehicle in sight, and you could look for hundreds of meters in any given direction without being blocked by any structure besides the occasional rock or cave."

"Better a cat than the incident with the monkey when I first moved in. I didn't quite know what to do then, and I imagine it was the same for you, since you had to look up a video about the subject. It was actually pretty scary, in a way. I'm glad you didn't have to deal with that kind of incident all by yourself.""

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi gave a light squeak then. "I-I just, I wasn't very popular or anything in my last school, okay? A-and we didn't have dances! I-I... I think I did pretty good, all things considered!" she yelled, her face burning. She then moved towards the broom and began to sweep. "And... he seemed nice enough. But it was just a dance, I don't think I'd condemn him to such things just because he was nice enough to ask," she said in a playful tone.

The freedom of movement, though, made her pause... "Huh. You make it sound like... are there a lot of empty fields there?" she asked. "I'd love to see it sometime, sounds nice."

Cho cringed at the comment about the monkey. "Y-yeah, haven't seen.... any monkeys since. Good news, right? I mean.... why would a monkey wanna come here, anyway? Like... total waste of its time, eh heh. Right? A-and it's fine! I'm... I'm used to doing things alone. Err, wait, no, I didn't mean it like that! I'm just... I used to take care of the chickens and stuff so um, compared to them, a monkey is easy!" Oh, she was so bad at this.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco quits talking for a bit, absorbing what her friend just said. 'I went too far, the light teasing was out of line despite saying afterwards she did great.' Coco speaks up then, while switching from cleaning the wood surfaces to the mirror. "Sorry about that, Cho. You were spectacular that day, that's why the song... I mean, that's why the music was so great for what you did." 'That's the most stupid switch-up in the history of switch-ups', she thinks, biting her lips.

"Yes, there are. All that emptiness is great. And the currents..." Coco halts herself here, realising she was getting herself discovered. "Sorry for stopping, I slid my hand too fast on this glass and crashed it against a shelf", she says being particularly grateful for this bout of quick thinking. "As I was saying, the currents of air are great there, there is lots of wind and you are feeling constantly caressed."

"Well, I am glad you don't have to feel lonely anymore. I am here for you, and you are more than capable of scoring that boyfriend you saw at the dance by yourself." The last comment gets her to thinking. "You said that a monkey is easy, right? Does that mean you often handle them?"

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi turned bright red at that. "Y-yeah. I don't... know why anyone would sing a song in like... towards me, you know? I mean, kind of. I'll... I'll be honest. Until she said 'pinkette' I was too busy trying not to step on his toes to hear much of what she was singing. It sounded like a nice song, though. I wish I could hear some of the lyrics again so I could try and find out what song it was. Bt... all in all, a great success! My first dance and nobody died! Despite my best attempts," she joked, completely missing Coco's mistake of words... She really was gullible, wasn't she?

"Wide open spaces, the wind in your hair... okay, that does sound kind of nice. I'd imagine it kind of feels like.... lonely, though. I mean, with nothing around. Although, I guess if you had a lot of other kids your age to play with, it probably wasn't bad? What kinds of games did you play there?"

Her cheeks got a little redder at the comment of Coco being there for her. "Y-yeah. I have... friends now. That... that's really nice. And I don't know. I mean, if I got a boyfriend I think I'd want to know him more first. Make sure we clicked, you know? Like... did you know it takes two years after you've met someone for the 'new person high' to wear off? What if I fell head over heels, but then eventually I thoguht he was a jerk and I was just... fell for all his tricks, you know? That'd suck!"

... Did she really think some random boy at a dance was going to 'trick' her? "And no. I ummm. Don't handle monkeys any more or less than the normal amount a girl would handle monkeys. Which is, I am pretty sure, almost zero?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco looks at Cho with an surprised and exhasperated look. "Cho, he was enjoying his time with you! I could see it all the way from up there! Please, believe in yourself more! The lyrics of the song said as much! "If you believe in yourself more, you should surely be able to change your future!" Or if you can't right now, have faith in the trust I have in you!"

She takes a breath to unwind, not even realising what she has given away. "Sorry, the games I was playing with other kids my age? Pretty much only chase games and play-acting stories we heard from the adults... Though, sometimes it was lonely even with that: the others' deference kept them away a few of the times."

"Making sure you click is actually a sensible move, but I doubt he is out to trick you, that wasn't at all the vibe I got from him." Coco switches from her serious expression to a calmer one, even adding a smile in reassurance.

She gets pretty confused however at the following comment. "Why'd you think it's easy then if you don't handle them much?"

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi blinked a few times. "Oh. OH! No, no no! I didn't mean he was tricking me, I mean, like. I only JUST met him. I can't like, decide to ummmm, you know? Off that? I didn't know him. I don't know him. I mean, I haven't had a chance to know him, I guess? We might have nothing in common. I... wait, really? Those were some of the lyrics? Thanks, Coco!" she said, pulling out her phone and typing them in. "Huh. I'll try on my computer later... weird. Hmmm?" she asked, looking over towards her. "You okay? Was the singer a friend of yours or something?"

However, the rest of the talk made her just look more confused. "Def...erence? People were deferent to you?" she asked. "That like... means... revered, right? Or like... I'm not misunderstanding the word, am I?" she asked. She just didn't get why people would be deferent to Coco... then again, she didn't know she was royalty.

She just stared at Coco in confusion, a bewildered look on her face. "Huh. Like, it's almost as if you care more about me getting a date than I do. O-oh... wait... does... does that mean... oh, I'm a lousy friend," she muttered. "I'm supposed to be trying to help you find a guy too, aren't I? Dang it. I-I'm sorry! I'm kind of new to like... well... I guess.... anything... like that...."

She gave a low squeak at the 'easy comment'. "A-as for the monkey. I mean, I handled chickens, right? And they have beaks and stuff. How much worse could a monkey possibly be?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco smiles nervously. "Uh, well, we meet sometimes. Why do you ask? And why do you need to try with your computer?" 'Aqua Regina, I have done it now. What do I do now?" Coco is starting to get into mental circles now.

Which of course doesn't help when she starts tripping up more. "Uh, well, my mother is kind of a big shot around my community. Pretty much built the whole place and defended it, you know? There were these bad guys that were threatening all she ever did, so she had no choice but to cast them away from the community."

"I really appreciate the thought, but I have a lot on my plate currently. An old friend of mine got stuck in a bad deal, and it's why I came here, to help her."

"Oh, you are right, I have heard totally vicious stuff about chicken, especially roosters." She actually didn't, but that's exactly why she was going along with Cho instead of trying to refuse her.

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi glanced up. "I mean, to look up the song. Unless it was something not online, like... oh. Wow. If she came up with it on the spot, she must be talented! Oh, unless she like... has a bunch of her own songs, what was her name? Maybe I can see if she has a website or something. Wait, is that why she was singing about us? Cause I was her friend's roommate?"

She blinked a few more times at that.... 'built the place and defended it'. "She... built your home. And protected it? Like... how... did that... work? Bad guys?" she asked. "Cast them out?" she asked.

"Where... exactly did you say you were from again?" she asked, tapping on her phone now. "Your home sounds... unique," she said.

As gullible as Cho was... even she was suspicious here.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Uh, her name is... Caren. But she only sings live and never publishes her stuff, so she isn't all that famous, and that's why you aren't finding her. I asked her that favour actually."

Uh, well, they wanted the place, she stood her ground and used her influence to stop them, just that."

She breathes a bit to try and relax, vainly. "I told you where I am from, didn't I? I... am pretty sure I did. I am from South America." Coco is sweating tremendously from the nervosism at this point."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi nodded. "Caren? Well, she sounds nice," she said, still lightly clicking on her phone.

"I... know you live in south america, but where?" she asked, looking up at her. Her eyes were narrowed now, and she actually looked suspicious. Oh dear. "I mean... big open fields, your mom made your..." Then she trailed off and she actually looked disappointed.

"Oh. Ohhhhh. I get it," she muttered. "You know, Coco... you don't need to make up stories about things. If you don't want to talk about your home, or don't want to tell me... you can just.... tell me you don't want to tell me. But please don't lie to me. I want to be able to trust my roommate, but we're not going to get along well if you just decide it's better to make up stories than tell me things."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco is crestfallen at how hard Cho took it. "I'm sorry, Cho, I really am. I wish I could actually tell you the truth, but there are rules in place for most of that. The only thing I am allowed to reveal to you is... I am the singer that was up there at the Summer Dance, the one that called herself Yellow Pearl Voice. I am really sorry for this. The rest you have to figure out yourself, I am not allowed to reveal it. There are fatal consequences in place. But everything I told you was based on the truth, so you do have a set of clues available. I hope we can still be friends."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi sighed. "Right, right, Yellow--" Record screech. She blinked a few times, opened her mouth. Then paused. Then opened her mouth again. Paused. Closed it.

Deep, deep breath. Stared. Finally, she glanced towards her room. Then back to Coco. Then... "Fatal consequences. Right. So. Yellow... Pearl... Voice," she said.

Before, once more, speaking up. "Coco... are... you magic? Cause... ummmmm... that... might explain a *lot* of things. Cause like... I mean.... you just... told me you were... and ummmm... I think... we've kind of... fought together against things a few times. Eh... heh heh..."

"... Wukong?" she offered nervously. Well, this just got... awkward.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco's eyes open wide at what Cho is telling her. "No way... Cure Wukong? But you didn't react at all at the dance when I tried to check if talking about cherries and spears meant anything to you. I... was really worried about Cherry Spear having hurt you when you were rambling after you almost chocked on the food. I had just gotten to know you, and after all the friends I lost recently, I couldn't bear losing one I was just starting to know."

She starts getting emotional now, eyes becoming lucid with liquid. "I am glad you are fine. That's due to the layers of immortality Sun Wukong is said to have, right? I looked him up on the Internet." Coco begins moving in for a hug now. "I'm sorry for the secrecy I had, and the one I still have to maintain. Please, never stop searching and I will be able to be completely honest one day."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi blinked a few times and then chuckled. "Oh. OH! Yeah, Cherry Spear. She's cool. Just a bit... feisty. She likes to keep people at a distance, but trust me. She's great. She uhhhh... what happened between us? It was an accident, I'm sure. Truth is? She's..." She gave a sigh. "Her powers use batteries, right? But... she still has helped me a few times. When she didn't need to. She could have left me behind, but she didn't. So... please. Trust me. She's great. She really is. She just... expresses it poorly. You..." She trailed off and stared at her. "You... lost people? Recently?" she asked. "I... I'm sorry. I won't... ask more... unless you want me to. Though..."

Slow, deep breath as she tried to process all of that. "Yes. I am many times immortal as Cure Wukong. I am not as, well, me. But... right. Let's hash one thing out. Your magic, I'm guessing, means you CAN'T tell me things, right? But it's okay if I figure them out?" she asked. "Ohhhhh. Guessing games! Soooo. Are you.... mmmmm. Ohhhh. Right. But are there things that if I guessed about you would put you in trouble? Because I don't want you in trouble."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco sighs. "It's not a pleasant story. Sara, my best friend, turned to the king of the deep seas Gaito for solace after her longtime boyfriend, her one true love, left her without an explanation and broke her heart. Gaito is the descendant of those same Panthalassa that Aqua Regina sealed away and he is out of revenge. Sara also..."

Coco takes a pause to loosen a knot in her throat. "She also destroyed her own kingdom as well as mine, then turned me over to him. I have been his prisoner for the last two years, and he also captured another friend of mine Noel. So I lost Sara, the friends in my own kingdom and Noel." Coco tearfully smiles at Cho. "I am here to find a way to rescue Sara from her own grief and stop Gaito."

She quietly smiles at Cho before moving onto her other question. "There really isn't anything that could hurt me if you guessed it, as long as you keep it to yourself. The only consequences are if one of us reveals it."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi nodded, listening to her story... And just... "H-holy..." And then? Then she lunged forward and gave her the BIGGEST hug. Just. The biggest hug she COULD give. "Y-you... you poor... poor thing... I'm so... so sorry. R-right. So, ummmm... wow... I just... wow..." she mumblled gently.

"... I got... no words," she said softly, giving her an even tighter hug after a moment. "I'm so sorry... that... that couldn't have been..."

Deep breath. "Listen. Do... you want some ice cream? Cause like... that seems like a 'Need ice cream' time. So.... right. Ummmm. You're a princess. And... you rule the deep seas. So like, you're a pirate? Or... magic pirate? Mermaid? Atlantis? Are you from atlantis? Ohhhh, or like... Wow. That explains why you're so pretty. Wait. You're royalty? Do I need to bow? Wait, no. Monkey King. Wait. Who out ranks who here? Should I curtsy?" She tried. It was... poorly done. And awkward.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco accepts Cho's hug, holding her tight and letting out tears she didn't know was still holding back, now released with the contact of another person. "Thank you, Cho. This... means... so much to me." She sniffs a bit.

"And you can treat me like you have before, there is no need to change." Coco starts smiling a bit, though Cho can't really see it due to the hug. "I can't confirm any of what you proposed, you have to reach the truth for yourself."

She slowly disentangles herself from the hug after one more minute. "Anyway, I would really like that ice cream, if you don't mind."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi nodded. "I know. And... I know. Just... you're not alone anymore, okay? And if anyone ever tries to kidnap you again? I'll kick their butt. Promise," she said with a smile.

Cho then, once she got confirmation that she couldn't get a direct answer... ran off. Getting some good peach ice cream from the freezer, before running back with two bowls. "Well, there's only one thing to do now."

"Girl's movie night! We can like.... watch.... ummmmm... one of Wukong's things, and the little mermaid, and atlantis has a good movie, and..."

Oh, it was going to be a long night, for the two of them. But hopefully a nice one.