174/When You're A Fox, You're A Fox All The - Wait
From Radiant Heart MUSH
When You're A Fox, You're A Fox All The - Wait | |
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Date of Scene: | 26 July 2023 |
Location: | Sports Pavilion |
Synopsis: | In which Wako gains melonpan, Vice President gains fashion, and Kazuo gains no dignity whatsoever. |
Cast of Characters: | Kazuo Saitou, Wako Agemaki |
- Kazuo Saitou has posed:
It's vacation. In theory.
This has not prevented the self-defense class from happening for those students still around. And thus, shortly before the official (non-magical) version is due to start, there is someone waiting by the main entrance to the RHA sports pavilion with a bag.
... like an absolute idiot, because the sun is apparently bent on burning them all to a crisp today, and sunglasses and still-damp hair from a recent shower are not going to balance out the fact that Kazuo's barely conceded to roll up the sleeves of his dress shirt.
At least he's out of uniform. The shirt's as white as his hair. The bag he's carrying could probably still bake its contents just in the general temperature, though, let alone on the pavement.
- Wako Agemaki has posed:
Wako has shed her preferred pink hoodie in a concession to the summer heat, but she seems otherwise mostly unwilted by the scorching midafternoon sun as she ambles along the walk towards the sports pavilion, already idly stretching her arms in front of and then behind her in preparation for the workout to come.
Also, either she's wearing a very odd hat or there is a small yellow fox riding along atop her head.
She pauses at the sight of Kazuo lurking by the sports pavilion's entrance. "Kazuo Saitou-kun." Tipping her head back - passenger and all - she smiles up at him. "Waiting for someone again today?"
- Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"I might be," Kazuo agrees. This close, and at her angle, she can (for a moment, before he tips a smile down to her in return) catch a glimpse of faint circles under his eyes. Unslept even for a high school student. Some vacation. Nonetheless, he presents the bag in hand to her with a little flourish. "I try to keep my promises. Usually fail, but I try."
- Wako Agemaki has posed:
"Ah?" That is, in fact, a live fox on her head. It hops down to a steadier perch on her shoulder when Wako reaches to accept the bag, and regards Kazuo with bright-eyed, whisker-quivering curiosity.
The bag rustles as Wako opens it enough for a peek inside. "Melon bread! You really didn't have to..." Letting out a little laugh, she looks back up at him. "But I'm very happy you did. Thank you very much."
There's a moment of hesitation, then; Wako studies his face a little more closely, and her expression of delight slips into something more like concern. "...are you all right, Saitou-kun? You look tired."
- Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo regards the fox with a mildly curious amusement in turn. "Don't look at me like that," he tells Wako's rider. "I don't know if you can get a share. You'll have to ask her."
Then Wako's asking him a question, and Kazuo looks from fox to face. "Me?" he asks. No, Saitou, the wall behind you. "I'm fine." His grin flashes, bright and light. "It's vacation, that's all. No extra catch-up naps in classes. Don't you get more tired during breaks, with all the running around?"
- Wako Agemaki has posed:
Wako hums thoughtfully, turning the question over to examine from one side and the other. As she's thinking, she casually lifts a hand in front of the fox's face to stave off any notions he might get about exploring higher ground in the form of this new human.
The fox sneezes in affront and scampers nimbly around to her other shoulder.
"No?" Wako decides at last. Then considers further. Last summer break... was last summer. "Not unless there's something weird going on." She tilts her head, regarding him earnestly. "Is there?"
- Kazuo Saitou has posed:
There is a tiny yellow fox on her shoulder, and she's the one asking about weird things?
Kazuo shrugs, mildly rueful. "It's Tokyo. If there isn't something weird going on, we've got a problem. But the only thing I really know about that might affect you is some more wannabe tough guys picking on people when they think they won't get caught, and you already have that taken into account, don't you?" He tilts his head in the loose direction of the entrance to the pavilion and sweet, sweet nonbroilingness. "How's that going? Inai any good at teaching it?"
- Wako Agemaki has posed:
"Wannabe tough guys...?" From her tone, it's not a problem she's had. It's also possible she's envisioning a gang of Yankee-style greasers with exaggerated pompadours and belligerent drawls re-enacting the Sharks vs the Jets in the middle of campus, or something.
But he's asked a question. Wako blinks and makes a rueful face. "I think so," she says, "but it's not like I knew much to start with, so it's hard to go anywhere but up." That's a very self-deprecating face she's pulling.
"...it's not really myself I'm worried about, anyway," she adds, after a momentary pause.
- Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"She's worried about you, isn't she," Kazuo says to the fox in confidential tones. "Isn't she? Confess."
- Wako Agemaki has posed:
The fox appears to take this as an invitation. Before Wako can move to forestall him again, he springs from her shoulder in a leap that clears the significant height difference and space between them. Kazuo gets a breathy little fox-laugh next to his ear.
"Vice President!" Wako cries out in dismay, too late to stop any of this from happening. "I'm so sorry... Well, but you're not exactly wrong, either." Propping her hand (the one not holding the bag) on her hip, she gives the fox a scolding look. "Neither of us are used to Tokyo yet, but he still goes wherever he wants to."
- Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo attempts to eye the fox sidelong. His hair is in the way. This doesn't keep him from trying, possibly to the fox's further amusement. "Well. He was on your head. I suppose I should have expected him to want a better vantage point." Besides, Wako's hair is yellow, Kazuo's is white; maybe the fox likes looking at her better because her fur is the right color. "And at least he hopped to someone you're talking with, rather than some random passerby about to disappear onto the wrong train."
- Wako Agemaki has posed:
Vice President certainly seems to find plenty about his new perch to amuse himself; in short order he's nosing at the earpiece of Kazuo's sunglasses, perhaps to see if he can nudge them off the ear.
Between this and Kazuo's observations, Wako lets out a sigh. "Just because Koji-kun liked you doesn't mean you can climb on whoever, you know?" The fox pays her no attention. "Although yes, at least there's that. And when it's this hot, he'd rather stay off the pavement, so he doesn't run off as much. I'd still rather he stayed put in my dorm room, but it can't be helped."
- Kazuo Saitou has posed:
The fact that Kazuo nudges his sunglasses back into place does not mean that VP can't figure out how to get a better angle. Especially when ... well. "He doesn't exactly look like a lapdog," he says with amusement - the human, not the fox. "And you might be a lot more bored with him if he acted like one."
- Wako Agemaki has posed:
"I'd be wondering if something was wrong, at least," Wako concedes with a reluctant smile. "I just can't help worrying a bit that he'll get himself into trouble while I'm not around. Tokyo is such a big city... and just like you said, a lot of things happen here."
The fox, having observed how Kazuo nudged the sunglasses back into place, works out exactly the right place to get his nose in under the earpiece - and flick it up off Kazuo's ear, whereupon he grabs for the glasses with his teeth and tries to yoink them off his face entirely.
"Vice President, no!" Wako yelps, darting up to try to catch him one-handed as her other hand is still holding the bag. "That's not yours!"
- Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo laughs aloud, and puts up a hand to balance and protect VP even as he's reflexively flinching from earpiece coming at the corner of his other eye -- which of course just means the fox gets them more easily. A lot of things happen in Tokyo. Fox sunglass theft is now one of them! "It looks like they're his now," he jokes. "See what I mean? Picking on people when they think they won't get caught. Of course, most of them are a little bigger than he is..."
- Wako Agemaki has posed:
The fox nips his prize from Kazuo's face, mercifully without taking out an eye in the process. Theft accomplished, he escapes Wako's efforts to recapture him with the full aid and abettance of his victim, leaving the girl to look exasperatedly up at them both.
"Most of them aren't going to encourage him like this, either," she points out. "At this rate, he really will get himself into trouble. Or me, when I come back to my room one day and it's full of things he stole from people."
- Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo reaches up, carefully, to his own shoulder, to attempt to reclaim the sunglasses from the fox. Only long enough to try putting the sunglasses on the fox. "In his defense," however dubious a defense it might be, "right now he's not getting himself into trouble while you're not around..."
- Wako Agemaki has posed:
Vice President surrenders the sunglasses with surprisingly little fuss when Kazuo reaches for them. They do not fit easily on a vulpine face, but he can probably take advantage of the fox's excessively large ears to prop them onto. It helps that he sits cooperatively still for the attempt, aside from the swishing of his fluffy white-tipped tail.
"Saitou-senpai," Wako says, working very hard to hold back laughter and not doing a very good job at it. "I'm beginning to think you're a bad influence."
- Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"You're a very perceptive individual," Kazuo agrees, lowering his hands with caution and being careful to keep his shoulder still. "All the teachers would tell you so. Except possibly Inai. I'm not sure if she's a bad influence herself or not, yet."
- Wako Agemaki has posed:
At the comment about Inai-sensei, Wako's brows lift. "I'm not sure about that, either," she admits. "It really seems like she wants to help, though. That's a good thing, whether she's a bad influence or not."
Glancing down, she grins and holds up the bag. "I'm still going to eat this before I go into class. Otherwise she might confiscate it. Are you going to attend the self-defense class too, senpai?"
- Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Maybe I'll see if I can get in in the new term," Kazuo admits in turn. "If she's good, the way things are going around here, it's worth it. If she's not, it's not like it'll be more of a waste than any of the other electives." He grins back at her, then. "And good for you. I didn't buy that for her, after all."
- Wako Agemaki has posed:
'The way things are going around here.' A cloud seems to shadow Wako's face at those words, cheer slipping away into a more somber expression. "Yeah," she says. "One way or the other, it's probably a good idea to be prepared."
Drawing in a deep breath, she makes a conscious effort to shake off whatever it is. "If you do join, I'll be seeing you more often. I can't promise Vice President will always tag along with me, though."
- Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"I'm not sure we can get him self-defense classes," Kazuo agrees. ... then there's a pause, and a brief blink, and a little frown. "Hey, how are you planning on dealing with him in class today? He probably can't be on your shoulder, and if he's feeling mischievous he might not stay put on his own..."
- Wako Agemaki has posed:
"I have no idea," Wako replies immediately. "He decided on his own to come along, so I figured I'd have to work that out when I got there."
With fresh amusement, she shifts her attention from Kazuo to the fox, who is still sitting poised on his shoulder with the sunglasses perched on his head. "Then again, it looks like he's decided you're more interesting right now."
- Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Looks like I'm coming in with you today after all, then," Kazuo says with ... considerable amusement. Hijacked as babysitter!
After all. The fox has a hostage.