2086/Stupid Dice Games

Stupid Dice Games
Date of Scene:	19 November 2024
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	During a late-night patrol, Amy stumbles across across a meeting of delinquents, including Emi Hoshino, and ends up trying to awkwardly talk about her past without revealing magic and sounding extra depressing.
Cast of Characters:	Emi Hoshino, Amanda Faust

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Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi Hoshino has a reputation to keep.

Sometimes, it's as simple as skipping class. Other times, it's more in depth, like sitting in a park with a bunch of other kids trading cigarettes over a dice game, Chinchirorin in this case, to prove how rebellious you are.

Sectioned out of the way, up past curfew, just out of sight of the omnipresent security cameras, a gaggle of young teenagers from different local schools, inclouding Radiant Heart, swap stories, laugh, and smoke.

They're teenagers. It's what they do sometimes.

Resplendently dressed up in her fully Gothic way, Emi sits recognizably amongst them and Amy, whatever it is that brings her by, might catch her resonant, contralto laughter amongst them. She won, this time, and she has gathered up her reward: a handful of smokes to go with the one that's already being used.

DELINQUENT.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Omnipresent security cameras? That would be kind of concerning if Amy thought about it.

    She doesn't, though. It's not like they can record magic stuff, anyway. Such as a Puella Magi out on patrol for any late-night monsters, passing by the park when she hears laughter and wonders what is going on. She pulls up her hood and decides to investigate.

    She steps into view, briefly, before realizing she's seeing a bunch of teenagers, clearly not criminals, and stepping back out of view. Others may have seen, for a moment, a cloaked figure, wearing a white hooded cloak over some sort of anime cosplay outfit.

    And she processes what she just saw. A group of teenagers playing a dice game, with cigarettes as the ante. It feels like a scene out of a movie, except then it'd be adult toughs around a table in a bar or something. Or maybe kids did that in like, Taro's time? Is this still a thing?

    She is confused and curious enough to go confront them and ask are they from the past -- stranger things have happened, and they could be ghosts or something -- except she's pretty sure she saw Emi among them. And that means she has to decide whether to be recognized or not.

    Well, they're not going to really talk to a strange girl, are they. If Emi's in with some strange group... well, she might talk to Amy, and a bunch of teenagers aren't a threat to a Puella Magi, she hopes. It's not like she intends to agitate them by reporting them, that won't change anything.

    A moment later, Amy -- not Magical Rocket Girl Red -- steps back around the bushes or whatever, still wearing the cloak over mostly-normal clothes -- white schoolgirl socks and a red skirt with a longsleeve shirt that's white on the sleeves and belly and red over the chest. If you only saw her before in peripheral vision, this might be believably the same outfit.

    She approaches Emi, loudly whispering, "Hoshino-san, what...?" And glancing at the rest of the group and then back to her to indicate just what Amy is confused about.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Finishing off her cigarette as Amy approaches, Emi is caught off guard by the arrival of the other girl. This was the last place she expected to see Amy, and it's enough to make her laugh a second time. She kicks out a folding chair for Amy.

"Want a smoke? Hey, everyone. This is Amy. She's goes to the same school."

One of the other students pipes in, "Oh yeah! I've seen her." He's nobody special himself, just another student at the same school, hardly standing out here except for the fact that he's playing dice and smoking withn her.

"Yep," says Emi.

"Welcome to the Delinquent's Corner, Amy. We're all very bad kids. You've gone and found us out."

Her tone is drolly amused, really, and unconcerned. At least seemingly.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy pulls the cloak around her. She may not be in actual danger, but she feels kind of out of place, and there's the shadow of the feeling from the distant past, of being an awkward teenage boy who's just come across a group of people who would only make fun of him and throw wet paper towels at him if he asked them to please stop smoking.

    "I... I don't." She stutters trying to make herself say words, even quietly. "...It's a... I hate the smell. You'll ruin your lungs. I won't tell. 'Cuz it won't do anything. But one of my grandmas got throat cancer and I don't even remember what her voice used to sound like without the electrolarynx. I haven't heard it since I was a little boy. I... I mean girl." She'll play it off as misspeaking due to nervousness. Yeah.

    "That's... all I'll say on the matter." She makes sure to stay upwind as she moves closer and stands, a few feet away from the group. Still very out of place.

    "Dice games? I feel like I walked into a gangster movie. Are they... still popular today? How did... any of this..." She shakes her head.

    "I'm a formerly goody-two-shoes geek. I know I'm out of place here. Take your amusement at my... discomfort and unfamiliarity with what I've just stumbled into, as long as you're not mean."

    Her eyes flicker between Emi and the others. Eventually she remembers the folding chair was set out, and moves it to her preferred spot upwind and sits, keeping the cloak around her to cover the short skirt.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"Cool," says Emi to Amy, just letting her words sit out there for everyone to listen to.

Nobody seems to bothered, really. Smoke, don't smoke. It's all good, and Emi seems to be fione with her presence so that says enough for everyone at the time being.

"I mean, why NOT dice games? It's fun enough. Less complicated than the card games, and also, it's not like we can drag a pachinko machinew out here to further the gangster aethetic," she remarks, lighting a fresh cigarette now that her old one is out.

She, it seems, has no fear of cancer. Ah, the invulnerability of youth.

There's plenty of laughter as the other kids break back into their own conversations. Some of it sounds mean, but really, it's just between each other at the moment. The kind of mean that develops between people in social circles sometimes.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy does burst into laughter at the comment about a pachinko machine. And she's a bit more relaxed after that. She can understand people ribbing eachother, that some teasing is part of... social bonding or whatever.

    After listening to them for awhile, she speaks up again: "...I confess, I don't really know much about the world of delinquents, especially sukeban. Only what I read in manga." She looks at Emi. "How do girls... end up here?" She looks away. "I used to look down on anyone like this at my old school. And they didn't like me either. So I didn't... talk to them, or get to know them, or really think of them as people. I'm sorry. I used to be kind of an asshole."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"How does anyone end up anywhere, Amy?" says Emi, turning her gaze mercilessly towards the dice as they roll.

"The same way they get anywhere else: one step at a time, right?"

"Oh knock it off with the faux profundity," says a kid across from Emi, rolling his eyes, who makes a rude gesture in his direction. "Cigarettes is the answer. It's always cigarettes," he continues, "And knowing who gets yelled at."

Emi shrugs her shoulders and coughs a few times. Hey, she's a smoker, but she hasn't smoked THAT long. She laughs afterwards, rasping out, "It's not a mystery, anyway."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "I mean. I've heard stories." Amy continues. "People from... disadvantaged homes. Or bad homes. You know, the stuff middle-class people of their country's ethnic majority would hear. But I don't think you want my pity, or to assume and color you all with some brush and some narrative. That's not... people, that's stereotypes."

    She shivers as the mental image of a crossdressing okama sitting here in her place passes through her mind. "I wouldn't want to be seen as some stereotype, either."

    "Are cigarettes really that great? ...Let me rephrase: Obviously they don't appeal to me, but what's the appeal to you? Is it just that.... Are they just still seen as cool, even after all these years?"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi Hoshino just stares at Amy for a long moment before she raises a hand to press over her eyes, craning her head towards the sky as if she can't believe she's hearing some of this.

"She always like this?" says the kid that's been engaging with them so far, while the others have side-traccked into their own back and forths before the next ride of dicing can begin. Others are checking their phones.

"Far as I can tell," agrees Emi, "Maybe a little judgmental, but she means well and she won't rat you out. Tons of adults smoke anyway."

"... haven't you ever done something just because someone told you not to?" she asks Amy.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Tons of adults smoke anyway. "Huh. That's how I feel about swearing." Amy observes. "Adults just make a big deal of it so they can be judgemental."

    She blinks at Emi. "...I get that feeling. But I wouldn't hurt my body and endure that awful smell over it. Is that really most of it?"

    Amy looks away. "I'm sorry for being judgemental. I... was praised for being a good kid, once upon a time. Thought it made me better than others. But it was empty praise. Adults won't defend you from bullies. They won't help you figure out why you're bad at studying the moment talent won't carry you anymore. They won't... how am I supposed to believe they'll help me in college? Help me find a job?"

    Amy shakes her head. "Old habits die hard, though."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
All those confessions from Amy leave a look of increasing bemusement on Emi's face, to say nothing of a couple of her dice partners.

Emi rubs her face a moment and then tosses her dice on the table. It's her turn, after all. She rolls poorly. Which is fine by her, it seems, as she looks to her partner, a boy who can't be much older than she is with bruised knuckles and a crooked smile. "Eh," she says, "That's it. I'm out. Keep the dice -- they've been better to you than they were to me," her face scrunches up as she pushes them towards him. Black dice with gold painted numbers made of ... onyx, perhaps? Emi must've spent a little money on 'em, but she doesn't seem to care. Dismissive entirely as she lets him scoop them up.

"Don't mind if I do. Keep the cigs then," he tells her. Fair trade as far as Emi is concerned, a ghost of a smile crossing her face before her mismatched eyes turn back towards Amy.

"Apology accepted, I guess," she adds. "But what're you gonna do when you become an adult and no one praises you for anything?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Fancy dice." Amy observes.

    At the question, she hangs her head, leaning back slightly in the chair and crossing her legs, and pulls her cloak tighter around her. She looks at the ground, off to the side, away from Emi. She tries to control her voice and not choke up. "Did I not tell you? I have no plan. I'm enjoying these years, and then what comes... comes, I guess. There's nothing I want, no... dream I have for the adult world. But at least I won't sacrifice this time for a future that never pays it back."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"Eh," replies Emi dismissively at the fanciness. Why'd she even have those?

"So you weren't judging me, then. You were judging you. That checks out." Emi kicks back in her folding chair -- a little too hard, really, as it tips over backwards and deposits her on the ground with a squawk of surprise.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy flinches as if struck. And then Emi goes down-- Amy sits up in her chair in alarm, "Are you alright?!"

    If she is, though, Amy slumps back in her chair again. "I'm... different. I got stuff going on you don't know about. ....aaaand, yes, I can see how obviously, everyone else has stuff going on I don't know about, so, I shouldn't judge."

    She looks away again. "I just... I tried to be good. And help people. I wanna... make peoples' lives better. You all deserve better lives than this world... than this world is going to give you, and I don't know how to change the world and make it better. It sucks that it's left to you. It's not fair. We shouldn't have-- previous generations shouldn't have kept making it worse. Although, the Millenials didn't have a chance; They were... they were set up to fail from the start. Still..."

    She's not sure 'still' what, and after a moment just shakes her head.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"Ah, ah, ahaha," is Emi's response. She lays there a moment before she rights herself and puts her chair back. Most of the other kids around are busy laughing about it because who wouldn't? Emi certainly does after a moment. "Well," she says, "Ow. But I'm fine." She gives herself a little shake off, frilled skirt rustling after a moment as she the light aluminum chair up one handed and sets it back in place. She's listening to Amy as she goes on, making a soft 'hmm-hmm' as she hears hjer, a light little smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. The kid across from her with the bruised knuckles gives Amy a peculiar look, uttering, "That's messed up," before scooping up his own reward for the night.

Emi picks up a cigarette, twirls it between her fingers, and then lights it. Cough cough.

"Shit, was I right?" she asks of Amy. "I was just trying to sound smart and wise and so on. But I think everyone's got a chance," she points towards Bruised Knuckles, "even him."

"HEY."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    That's messed up. "Yeah. It is. I'm sorry." Amy answers the boy.

    She shrugs to Emi. "Sounding smart and wise is something I could never manage." She glances at the other girl. "I guess there's a chance." That they defeat the Fade, somehow. "But at what?" Who knows what that world would be like? Amy looks away. "I told you, there's stuff going on. If..."

    Amy frowns as she remembers talking with Setsuna and Hinoiri about the Fade. But she can't talk about that here. She shakes her head.

    "So here I am. No past. No future. Just..." gah, what was she going to say? It slipped her mind. Oh right.

    "The former goody-two-shoes gifted kid. Who can't be that because she knows the adults who talk it up are fakers. Who knows this won't matter, employers won't care about high school grades, adults are just people as messed up as we are, so she can't respect them like the suck-ups... but who doesn't have it in her to be a delinquent either. Half-hearted, soft-hearted with no place here or there, only among her friends she's... somehow found and is so lucky to have."

    Amy looks at the group. "I guess that's what's important. You all friends? At least you have that. Good on you."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"Huh," remarks Emi again, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, She smokes her cigarette a moment, the ember at the end flaring briefly before she extinguishes it on the little makeshift table as she raises her hand to cover her face, peeking at Amy through her fingers for a moment before huffing dismissively.

"Eh, I barely even know these guys, and especially not him," she answers, gesturing at Bruised Knuckles, who responds to her by pulling down his lower eyelid towards her with his pointer finger. Emi rolls her eyes at him.

"Well, I won't pretend I've got any idea what to say to like ... any of that, really. You've been storing that one up for a while, huh? Honestly, that might've been just about the most teenage-angst-in-a-novel or something I've heard in a while. Everyone's a liar, everyone's fake, there's no hope, there's no future, no place in the world for meeeee," she sing-songs that last line, eyes falling on Bruised Knuckles for a moment as she begins packing up her things to go, unfurling her parasol and its interwoven spider-webs atop it.

"... but don't give me all that cynical stuff. I don't think you believe any of that anyway, not really. I think you're just trying to protect yourself. I get it. Now, I'm gonna go back to the dorms, watch a scary movie on my phone, stay up late and sleep through classes tomorrow. You know. The usual."

She stops, considering a moment before she presses her parasol into Amy's hands. "Here, so you don't drown in all that self-pity raining on you." She turns with a swirl of her skirts and begins to walk back home.

"Talk to someone, Amy. Seems like you need it."