1377/Every Day is Someone's First Day

Every Day is Someone's First Day
Date of Scene:	02 April 2024
Location:	Cafeteria Plaza
Synopsis:	Two of the Shitennou have lunch on their first day of class and compare (or complain, depending on your viewpoint) notes.
Cast of Characters:	Zoisite, Jadeite

---

Zoisite has posed:
First days can be rough. For someone like Zoisite, who's spent a significant time away from school, it's... certainly an adjustment. Not the content of the classes or anything, he's reasonably confident about the material after all of Ami's tutoring, but the rest is just a lot.

Being told what to do. Having to then do the things he's been told. Sure, that's not all that unlike being under Obsidian's thumb, but for a little while there in-between he had a lot of freedom.

After class, Zoi finds himself in the cafeteria plaza, just sitting with his bookbag. He doesn't look like he's ruffled; there's not a hair out of place, because that's just how he functions, but on the inside he's a little stressed out. The fact that he can't seem to stop winding a lock of hair around his finger is a sure sign of it. He takes in a deep breath, holds it, and then lets it all out in a big sigh.

But no, he's totally fine.

Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite had prepared.

Tamaki had studied until his eyes watered, aced the tests he missed, wrote his little heart out for his essays. Even if he had forgotten a great deal of what school was like, he intended to excel, as he would excel at all things. As his prince's right hand, he could do no less - could not dishonor him with failure.

...Well. Endymion wouldn't care, and a bad grade would hardly be the end of the world, but the idea of failure gnawed at Tamaki. It was almost a relief to return to class and find things - simple. Ordered. He had been drilled to order on the old Earth and the new.

But even as order came easily enough to him, it would not for others. Zoisite had a heart like wildflowers and this was a cornfield. He curls his hair around his finger like wire around a battery's heart.

"Can you believe what we were assigned to read in Literature?" he asks Zoisite as he takes his side. "The vending machine gave me an extra strawberry milk. Do I need to drink both?"

Zoisite has posed:
It does feel good to be on equal footing with their prince, at least in terms of their education. Being in the same grade meant Zoisite could take precautions, watching over each other. Especially with the crystals in their possession, which necessitated extra care.

None of this particularly matters though in this moment, when Zoisite is too busy stressing about schoolwork (yes, their assigned reading). "I can't wait to die of absolute boredom," he complains of it, making his opinion on historically significant fiction plain. Then he eyes up that duplicate strawberry milk.

    "You really shouldn't," he says, "That would be a lot of sugar," and then he makes grabby hands, clearly wanting to be given it.

Jadeite has posed:
"Thank you for throwing yourself on the grenade," Jadeite says with a grin, then hands Zoisite the extra strawberry milk.

(It's not truly a double, but he can afford two strawberry milks, and he doesn't want to test if Zoisite wants pity milk. Which this isn't! This is friendship milk! But he's not risking it! Gotta think tactically.)

"Do you want to compare notes? Or should we focus on girding ourselves for the rest of the day?"

Zoisite has posed:
Zoisite suspects nothing of the extra milk, so he takes it without argument, and gives it a distracted shake as he gazes out across the plaza. His attention jumps from face to face, always on the lookout for potential trouble. Whether it's the bad kind or the kind he likes to get into, well, that's for Zoi to know and himself only.

"I suppose it wouldn't be a terrible idea to compare notes," he decides as he opens his strawberry milk, and then he takes a sip. A considering sip, but apparently it passes judgment, because Zoisite takes another sip right after.

He twists towards his bookbag and pulls out his notebooks from the day, which are all color-coded and carefully highlighted, his handwriting clean (if a bit flowery). Each is flipped open to the first page, and he scans their contents. "I expect the rest of the week will be a bit more rigorous than today, everything felt very introductory."

He puts his chin in his hand, and his focus hones in on Tamaki. "What do you think of our teachers so far?" By the subtle wrinkle of Zoi's nose, he already has opinions.

Jadeite has posed:
Tamaki watches the crowd placidly. He senses no danger so far, no darkness, no signs of trouble so far - he lets himself relax and open his own strawberry milk, enjoying the sweet taste before pulling out his own notebooks. He has notes written in both English and Japanese, chaotic lines kept in neat rows, and there are tiny sketches along the edges of the paper.

"Literature's going to suck all the fun out of the Tale of Genji, isn't it? I thought it was supposed to be a romance novel, but if we're LEARNING it..."

Zoisite has posed:
Hypervigilance is a lifestyle that Zoisite chooses for himself, willingly and happily. So he isn't particularly bothered by his focused people-watching, in fact he enjoys it. But he's able to compartmentalize, or multitask, whichever is more accurate. He looks over his strawberry milk at Tamaki's notes, and tilts his head to peek at some of the drawings.

"As usual. What is the purpose of school if not to suck all the fun out of things?" He snorts, then sets his drink down so that he can pull out his pencil bag and add a few last words to some of his science class notes that were incomplete. "Just another hurdle to climb."

Jadeite has posed:
"It's boring. I'll take it over actively brain destroying for now." He can work with boring. He can survive boring. Gives him more time to think about more important things.

"Did your science teacher stay on topic at all? I swear, half of class was him talking about his prior career as a life guard."

Zoisite has posed:
Zoisite heaves out a great sigh. "Boring," he repeats, his eyes going closed as a pained expression flashes across his face. The corners of his mouth pinch inwards and his brow furrows, before it all smoothes out. "Yes, I suppose there are worse things than being bored."

Rather than go into specifics and drag back unhappy memories, he pulls his science notebook to the forefront of the pile. "No, but she had some interesting stories about her time at sea as a researcher."

Jadeite has posed:
...Boring may be fine for Tamaki, but Zoisite... Tch, he's said the wrong thing. "It's still awful, though," he says. "Did any of the teachers give you trouble?"

He can start trouble. Does Zoisite need him to start trouble? He can get away with it, he has good grades and better manners.

"...That sounds fascinating, actually. What did she study?"

Zoisite has posed:
Underneath the table, Zoisite's leg has started to bounce. "No, no trouble," he says. "I mean they were dreadful but that's to be expected. It's like middle management but somehow worse because they're earnest and actually want you to succeed."

He sighs again. The strawberry milk is helping, though, and he returns to its syrupy sweetness for another slow drink. "She's an oceanographer, mapping the bottom of the sea floor, to track the health of coral reefs."

His hand makes a dismissive motion as if he thinks it's still, yes, boring, but there's a gleam in his eye. "They can use it to estimate the production of reef material, as well as where certain fish prefer to feed."

Jadeite has posed:
"Right? They have hopes and dreams of improving lives even though high school is - we're having to do this twice." School in the past, school in the present. "What kind of maniac makes someone reincarnate as a student twice?"

It could be worse. He has been to school in Indiana. But it sure could be better too.

And Tamaki's perking up more and more as Zoisite weaves his words. Perhaps it's boring to him, but fish and reefs... He had never lived near the ocean until he'd moved to Tokyo. They still fascinate him. "They can keep an eye on the health of the reefs and moniter fish behavior... Would artificial reefs be useful in them?"

Zoisite has posed:
"It's high school," Zoisite drawls, looking suitably unimpressed by the whole thing. He has some memories of his more rigorous schooling in the times long ago, but they're not so present that he's getting double vision at times or anything like that.

Though they're present enough for him to note, "I hate it just as much now as I did then."

He shrugs one shoulder smoothly and leans back a bit, so that he can tip the rest of his strawberry milk back and down it. Then Zoisite nods his head. "She said that sometimes they do that, to help promote reef growth. Did you know that there's an actual program to sink oil rigs and turn them into reefs?"

Jadeite has posed:
"Think there's any chance we can skip a grade?"

He won't, he has a prince to guard, but the option is there if they want. And it's fun to complain. Good bonding!

He's only halfway through his own strawberry milk, sipping slowly as he takes dainty bites of his lunch as he listens to Zoisite. "I did. The reefs grow all over them, and now... in the depths are ancient ships covered in reef, waiting for their skeleton crew..."

Oh, that's even cooler now that he thinks on it!

Zoisite has posed:
Zoisite's head immediately perks up at that thought, even though he knows immediately that it's not an idea that's viable at all. "I doubt they'd believe our story as to why we should be allowed," he says as he inspects his nails, which are as well-manicured as ever. But he does smile ruefully over at Tamaki.

"She's not a big fan of the process, apparently there are environmental concerns," he says. "But it's more of an overseas thing anyway, not something that happens near us."

He starts to flip through his notebooks, looking at what he's written so far. Eyebrows drawing together, he adds, "That was about all she had to say about it before she remembered she was supposed to be teaching us about stoichiometry."

Jadeite has posed:
"We could alwys take a test. Show how smart and sexy we are." Because they most certainly are. They're not going to take the tests. But they could if they wanted to.

"That does sound very American," he nods. "But it would be so cool! Imagine what those reefs must look like now. It's like they're sailing underwater..."

Oh, now he's sketching in his notes. It's too late.

"At least you got to the lesson?"

Zoisite has posed:
With a flick of his hand, Zoisite abandons his favorite lock of hair to toss it back over his shoulder. "Naturally," he says, certain of himself (as always).

He snorts at the American comment, and starts sorting his notebooks back in order, ready to tuck them back away before the bell rings. "I'm not sure it's wise to be that far under water. One mishap and things could go very wrong very fast."

Soon enough his things are tucked away, and he shifts in his seat, moving one leg over the other to cross them the opposite way. "We did, though it was an abbreviated one. But Ami had covered that in her study sessions with me, so I wasn't too worried. I can dig up those notes and share them with you later."

And then of course, that is when the bell chooses to sound, letting them know lunch period is over. Zoisite rises with a sigh. "We'll talk more after class."%