1298/To Date Or Die

To Date Or Die
Date of Scene:	17 March 2024
Location:	Dorms #2
Synopsis:	Hime pulls a good-intentioned prank on Ryoko and it goes bad. Then, Ryoko discovers that Hime's been asked to prom, and give the princess a horrible ultimatum.
Cast of Characters:	Hime Shirayuki, Ryoko Gushiken

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Hime Shirayuki has posed:
Things have been a bit tense since Ryoko moved into the dorm. How is somewhat hard to explain, but it basically boils down to Hime being lively and loud and fairly spoiled. She's new to living like this, and it's a lot for her. Add the fact that Ryoko gets a SECOND roommate with Hime's fairy, and even if they haven't actually gotten into a screaming match it's been uncomfortable. Well, uncomfortable for Hime at least. Cold or quiet people immediatly = I HATE YOU to Hime, whether that is the energy they're trying to put off or not. And, honestly, they really had not had the chance to interact all that much due to school and life and magical girling, but Hime is the type to jump to conclusions.

It was the fairy that suggested Ryoko needed a crash course in working with people, and Hime had decided it was a splendid idea. So, they'd come up with the plan to secretly sign her roommate up for the Prom planning committe. It was ingenius and would absolutely in no way backfire.

Currently, the blue-haired princess is sprawled on her bed, her brow furrowed as she reads and rereads a letter that is clutched tightly in her hands.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
It's not imagined. Ryoko does hate her roommate, and her little fairy mascot. But she would be very quick to point out that Hime isn't special, Ryoko hates everybody.

She's on strict orders not to do murders, unfortunately. She supposes she can see why. If she killed all the people she wanted to, it would arouse suspicious, and that would get in the way of accomplishing The Grim Queen's goals. Goals which infuriatingly require Ryoko to live in the dorms and play nice. Her version of playing nice is still pretty mean.

Fortunately, she's been swamped at work and has hardly been able to spend any time at home. As much as she hates her job--the fake one, the cover story one, the one that involves copying and collating--it at least provides a respite from small, blue and boisterous. She even knows Hime's schedule well enough that she can make most of her visits happen when the other girl is not there.

But not today. Today Ryoko got a message from somebody coordinating the Prince and Princesses Prom and he seemed to think she volunteered for the Decorations Committee. There were going to be meetings and work and she had not signed up for that at all. She was furious, and she had a very short list of people who might have done it. There was only one name on the list.

Which is why the door to their room is all but slammed open and she steps in, dressed in her corporate drag--a sharp, hand-tailored pantsuit, a crimson blouse, and her black Jimmy Chus--and glares at her prime suspect. She clacks across the room until she's looming over Hime's bed her rage barely contained.

"You have very little time left to live. Do you have anything you would like to confess?"

The Grim Queen never said she couldn't threaten murder.

Hime Shirayuki has posed:
The girl squeaks as the door is slammed open, and she scrambles with the letter she's reading. She stuffs it under her pillow in a not-so-subtle fashion and whirls about. She's dressed for lounging in a cute, baby blue nightgown and matching shorts, and she looks straight-up adorable. "AGH! DON'T KILL ME!," she squeals, eyes wide as she lays back and looks up at the fuming girl.

The fairy is nowhere to be seen. In truth, she's off hanging out with other mascots at the moment, giving the girl a rare moment of privacy. "I...confess? Um! I...I took an extra helping of dessert yesterday! I don't think I was supposed to! And...and...oh! I used your tooth paste last week because I was curious about the way it tasted!"

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko continues to do her best to tower over Hime intimidatingly. To an outside observer it would probably be funny, as she's only 5'7", but to Hime? Well, Ryoko hopes she's terrifying. If the girl fears her enough, maybe she'll become more tolerable.

She doesn't care about the dessert. And she doesn't...care...about the toothpaste...much. "Is there anything else you'd like to tell me? Anything else you've done?"

She takes a half step closer, her eyes drilling into Hime. "Like, say, signing me up for the decorating committee for this stupid dance?"

Hime Shirayuki has posed:
Hime is easy to tower over, honestly. She's smol. Her eyes widen further and she sinks back into the bed a bit. She tries to scramble back but has nowhere to go. "O-ohhhhh, that? Oh, right. Heh. Y-y-yeah. I thought it...might...um...help you get along better with people?"

The girl is certainly scared. Ryoko can read it in every gesture and the tremble in her voice. She even begins to cry, tears welling and running rivulets down her soft cheeks. "When I got here I couldn't...talk to people much. I was super shy and...scared of everything. I...I thought mabye...mabye you came off cold because you...you were shy, too..."

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
It's very satisfying to know she is doing a good job. Of course, intimidating a sweet and innocent fourteen-year-old like Hime is certainly playing the game on easy mode. Still, seeing those tears, Ryoko can't help but smile just a little. What a bitch.

"So you took it upon yourself to make commitments for me without my knowledge or consent," she says, the rage still simmering right under the surface of her words. If she were a pot of boiling water the lid would be rattling from the steam, but it wouldn't quite be boiling over.

She still just stands there, looming. She's really quite good at it. Then she sighs and turns to walk over and sit down on the edge of her bed. "Now I've got all this extra stuff to do on top of school and work," she says.

And then, then the real reason she's mad comes out. "And I don't even have anybody to take to the stupid dance."

Hime Shirayuki has posed:
She trembles a bit as the older girl pulls back and moves to sit down across from her. She sits up slowly and wipes at her cheeks. "I'm...I'm sorry." She strains to say it, as if the word is something she is not entirely familiar with. It seems the time to use it, though. "I didn't really think it through," she admits. "You can probably pull out if you want to? Or...um..." Or Hime could go and confess, but it doesn't look as if that is something she's volunteering to do.

She blushes a bit at the mention of the prom, and she pulls the letter out from under her pillow. "I think I got invited. A friend of mine...well, she's been training me. Uh...teaching me some self-defense stuff? She invited me with a letter she left on my door..."

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko Gushiken absolutely cannot back out of the committee now. She can't be seen as unreliable, even by people she doesn't really care about, and she knows that if she explained the truth everyone would think she was just making up excuses. Of course, she's not about to explain that to Princess Friendship over there.

"I'm not backing out. It'll be a good way to meet people. Which I need to do," she says. Every sentence said as if she's got a disgusting taste in her mouth. Her favorite way to meet people is at the tips of her swords. She's already been to the fencing club, though, and she can't really bring swords to something like the decorations committee. She's not looking forward to it. She'll just have to figure out how to make it fun for her.

But right now she wants to make this conversation fun for her. And the best way to do that is to make Hime cry some more. She stands up and steps across the room quickly--she's quite dextrous in those stilettos--and tries to snatch the letter out of Hime's hands. "Who would want to take you to the dance?"

Hime Shirayuki has posed:
She squeals and tries to get the letter back, but she isn't fast enough. Without her Henshin she's just a slightly spry fourteen year old girl. She isn't even an athletic one! The letter is easily taken by Ryoko. "No, wait! I...hey!!"

The letter reads:

'Hi,

How are things going? I have really enjoyed getting to know you recently, and appreciated how well we teamed up that time, and I would like to meet again soon.

Speaking of which, you have probably heard about the Prince & Princess Prom already. They are definitely planning things big. The catering will be varied and plentiful, and they seem to be definitely going big on the decorations. Not to mention there are going to be as many as 3 idols showing up for the Prom, so we students definitely have lots of choices for the ball.It's shaping up to be a fun event, but I know I would enjoy it a lot more if I got to spend it with you.

Would you like to be my Princess?

Hoping to see you there,

Cho Konishi'

She climbs from the bed and jumps about, trying to reach the letter but missing every time. Her cheeks are burning red!

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko holds the letter up high, well out of Hime's reach, as she reads it aloud. Then she just tosses it to the floor for Hime to catch as she starts to pace around the room composing a reply aloud.

"Dear Senpai, thank you for noticing me. I want nothing more than to be your Princess at this magical dance. Tragically I cannot accept because my mean, cruel roommate has nobody to attend with, and I signed her up to be on the planning committee. So, I am going to be going with her instead as penance for my misdeeds. I hope you can forgive me for being such a naughty girl," she says, in that sort of singsong voice one uses when making up a fictional letter on the spot.

Then she turns on the balls of her feet, her heels clicking down on the floor and glares at Hime. "You help me find a date, or it's you, got it?"

Hime Shirayuki has posed:
The girl scrambles for the letter on the floor and holds it to her chest, crying again now. Tears spatter the page as she sits on the floor, leaning back against the side of her bed.

She stares up at the girl, eyes wide as she cries. "Okay! Okay! I'll find someone for you! I promise!" Her bottom lip trembles as she holds the letter to her chest. It might seem like a simple thing to Ryoko, but to Hime the letter apparently is a very precious thing to her. "I...I thought you were going to tear it or something and I..." She swallows.

She glances away and takes a deep breath, trying to calm her crying. "Do you have a...I don't know. A t-type? Girl? B-boy? Tall? A-athletic? A b-bully like you?"

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko walks back over to sit down on the edge of her bed again. "My type? Loyal and obedient," she says, almost immediately. But that's not what Hime's asking. Her eyes drift off toward the middle distance toward her wardrobe as she goes on. "I want somebody closer to my age than yours. Somebody who's going to look as good as I do, and who won't crumble under the weight of a few words. I want somebody that deserves the privilege of taking me to the dance."

Her eyes snap back to Hime, then, and narrow just a little. "Which is definitely not you. So, I hope you've got some good ideas."

Ryoko certainly doesn't. She only knows a handful of people at the school, and she's pretty sure they're all paired off.

Hime Shirayuki has posed:
The girl blinks as she listens. Her brow furrows a little as she thinks and thinks. She doesn't really know anybody like that, does she? Hm. She's going to really need to work to go and find somebody, because she really, really wants to be Cho's Princess.

"Okay." She wipes the last of the tears away and climbs back up onto the bed. She stands and walks over, carefully tucking the letter away inside a cute little box on her desk. "I'll find someone. I don't want to go with you either," the blue-haired girl says, her back turned.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko nods. "Good. I'll expect someone soon. I don't want to meet them at the dance," she says. She's delegated the task. She doesn't have high expectations, but Hime certainly won't find her a date until after they're done talking. So that's enough of that topic.

She gets a mischievous grin on her face. "So, you and this Cho teamed up, huh?" She knows Hime is magical, even if she doesn't know exactly how. She's know that since the day they met. "This doesn't have anything to do with that annoying pet of yours does it?"

Hime Shirayuki has posed:
She chews her lip a bit and turns back towards the other girl. "I'm not outting her without her permission. But...um...kinda. And yeah, we kick a bad guys butt and I do that on a regular basis so...so...so watch out..."

It's certainly not as threatening as she wants it to be. Syhe walks over to her dresser and begins getting some non-pajama clothing out.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko blinks and then laughs. Even her laugh sounds a bit mean. "Did you just...try to...intimidate me?" She has to pause to laugh in between. The idea of Hime intimidating anyone is just too comical. She can't help but laugh at it.

DUST Entertainment has been with Obsidian long enough that Ryoko has read plenty of reports about all the various magical heroes arrayed against them. She knows some of them have power far greater than hers. So she knows that Hime's threat could possibly not be an empty one, but that doesn't mean she has to act like it.

"Awfully bold of you to assume we'd be facing off," she says. "Are you really so naieve as to think that since I'm not friends with you, I must be evil?"

Hime Shirayuki has posed:
"Why ELSE would you be so mean??," she yells. But then she pauses, and a look of uncertainty crosses her face. "But...another of my friends was mean to me, too, for a long time. But then we worked everything out. My friend Iona. So...so I guess it doesn't mean your evil. Anyways."

She quickly changes from her pajamas to a cute blue dress, and she brushes her hair. "I guess I need to go out and find you a date. Because I am NOT letting you ruin the first date I've ever been asked on," the princess huffs softly, glancing over her shoulder at her. "No way."

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
"Has it never occurred to you that maybe you're just a little grating?" Ryoko asks as she rises up to her feet. "Honestly, you're much more tolerable when you're crying."

She crosses the room to the door and lays her hand on it. She was only stopping in to berate Hime, and make this problem Hime's problem as it rightfully should be. Ryoko is all about consequences when they're other people's.

As she turns the handle and pulls the door open. "I'll be checking in regularly. Don't disappoint me."

Hime Shirayuki has posed:
She gasps at that and stomps her foot, but doesn't manage to find any words to reply. She swallows back any further tears and glances away. She buries her hands in her dress, worrying at the fine fabric.

"I...won't...," the girl manages after a moment, desperate for Ryoko to leave her alone. Once she's gone she'll swallow her pride and head out into the school to find the person who has to suffer the fate of going to Prom with Ryoko.