2430/Neeenjaaaaaa social

Neeenjaaaaaa social
Date of Scene:	25 March 2025
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	Koji comes to visit Aloisia with some gifts, the two have a nice conversation about various different topics. Mostly cleaning.
Cast of Characters:	Aloisia Stauss, Koji Silvia

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Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Aloe's recovery has been ... reasonable. She HAS been spending a lot of time in her dormroom. Partially deep cleaning it and throwing out basically literally every piece of food that had been inside of it and sanitizing all food related surfaces. Repeatedly.

What she's doing /now/ is sitting at her desk, tinkering with the Zweihander, adjusting and fixing it up as best as she can to get it to something beyond a ceremonial sword level. Not that it was TERRIBLE as a ceremonial sword, but not really made for real combat.

She was also studying and doing homework on the side.
She had SO MUCH to catch up on.
Also there's some sort of half-eaten sandwich sitting nearby.
...The girl is probably multitasking too much.

Koji Silvia has posed:
The knock comes in the late afternoon, after all the clubs are done and most of the student body is either off-campus trying to have a social life, or enjoying the rather large around of food available in the Cafeteria.

Standing outside is Koji, dressed in an RHA colored and logo'd tracksuit and carrying a gym bag with him that looks a bit weighty at the moment.

His homework is done, he's already eaten, and he's just as bad of a multitasker.

But he does add at the door, "It's me. Oh... Koji. Silvia." Realizing that outside of the few encounters in henshin... he's never ACTUALLY met Aloisia outside of that eventful outing, and even then, he'd held back because he was waiting for the inevitable ambush, "I'm one of Rashmi's friends... I was there for the ramen incident?"

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
A knock.
...Huh.

"Was I expecting someone?" Aloe asks herself under her breath. Then again people had probably been coming to check on her off and on. And then Koji adds that it's him come to visit. She stands to walk over to the doorway and open it, revealing that she is...

...Wearing pajamas. Very comfortable pajamas, a nice light blue color with little fluffy bear slippers.

"Hello, Silvia." She pauses. "Come in, uh..." She glances back at her room.

Still set up more like a military dorm room than an actual room, down to relatively sparse decorations, a cot in the corner to sleep on, and it being almost impossibly clean -- save for that desk that currently had a partially-disassembled device on it at the moment, but even that was a 'neat' mess. "Let's see, where did I leave that spare chair..." She muses to herself. "Oh, right." She makes her way over to the cot and pulls out a little folding chair out from underneath it, before turning the more office-chair style chair she had been sitting in and pushing it lightly over for Silvia, before taking a seat in said folding chair.

...At least she has base manners to offer the more comfortable chair to the guest!

"How are you?"

Koji Silvia has posed:
Looking around the room for the moment, there's almost this grin on the tips of Koji's lips as he sees that almost camping sparseness to the room, and then inevitably settles into the office chair, and settles the gym bag into his lap, "Me? Well enough. But I'm more here to check on you... see..."

There's a pause from him and a bit of a breath, "I'm actually half-MidChildian. My mother is from Firstraum. She didn't tell me about any of it until just... about a year and a half, two years ago. And only after I found her old Intelligent Device."

Unzipping the bag, he moves a few things around, "I'm telling you this, because I understand how some of what you went through could feel... and I wanted you to know you're not entirely alone. I also wanted to bring you a few things to help you out."

The first that comes out is a refurbished school issue laptop, a mouse, and a power kit, "Here. I didn't know if you had one yet. Hanzo and I made sure to add in a modern Belkan translation program for you for any Japanese that causes you problems."

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Aloe's own chair was not exactly uncomfortable, it was one of those fold-out camping-style chairs, but the kind that didn't have arms and probably came with her cot considering the color similarities. Boring olive green kind of color to it and the only thing dubiously keeping it together was the metal of the chair.

"That's good. I've been working on the storage device, getting it up to spec for at least basic combat while doppelwand is being repaired. ...Also homework. So much homework. I don't recommend being 'kidnapped' for 5 months. They luckily are letting me make up the work and don't have any particularly wild timeframe but..." She shakes her head. "ANYWAY."

Ahem. "...Half-midchildan... I guess people from our dimension have been getting trapped here off and on for a while then..." And then he unzips the bag and reveals... a laptop!

"...Ooh. I hadn't gotten one of those yet. Most of the funds I'd gotten from obsidian -- since I mostly am hesitant to significantly harm anyone -- were not really enough to have too much lavish... well, anything really." Maybe she'll have to get a part time job somewhere. Also probably tender her resignation to obsidian. They probably won't try to kill her too badly since her boss is dead now, right???

Regardless, she reaches to take the offered laptop, turning it over and examining it, reading its specs, and then flipping it open to check out the keys and screen. "The fact this world has both a mix of analogue and touch screens is so fascinating. Then again I guess with minimal magic it's hard to do holographic displays."

...Yeah that computer is ABSOLTELY going to get taken apart and tinkered with at some point.
Probably have some dubiously-legal upgrades installed in it.
It's fine.

"Thank you, this is a wonderful gift. Is there anything I can do for you in return? Oh, right, tea!" She hops out of her chair, making her way over to turn on a kettle and grab a few mugs out of one of her cupboards. "Any preferences for tea? I have a little drawer set with basically some of every bag style I could find." She says, gesturing at a little set of wire drawers on the top of her counter, full to the brim with packages of various tea flavors.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Already rummaging through the bag again, Koji arches a brow at the talk of Obsidian, "Honestly... with... the situation of your life being wiped clear, I would bet they will assume you're gone or you're... well gone. Either way... showing up at their offices to tender you resignation is, as we like to say... a very BAD idea."

In the middle of it, he says, "OH... an oolong if you have one. Thank you for the tea."

When he finally finds something he's looking for, he holds up two cards for you, the kind of swipe-and-tap cards you're used to seeing, but one has a train-logo on it, and the other looks rather generic, "Listen... there's something I've said to others, that I want to say to you. And it may seem... counterintuitive, but I think it's necessary."

    "You don't have to fight anymore."

He lets the words hang there or a moment, and then goes on, "Just because you can use magic, doesn't obligate you to have to protect anyone, and even though Rashmi is working hard to fix your Device... that doesn't mean you have to take up arms again. You can be free to just be... whoever you decide to be now. It's your choice. No one is going to order you or force you to do anything."

With that said, he sets the cards down on the table, "This is a rail card good for 30 days from the first swipe, and the other is a refillable card I've put some yen on for you. So you can go out, and not feel... well... trapped here. Tokyo is a lot in a small space, but it's also... a chance to see your new home. Decide if this is where you want to be."

Once more he's into the bag and this time what comes out is a set of full ear-cover headphones with a slot for a cord to connect to a computer or a phone, "I rebuilt these for another friend... she's not here anymore, but they're the last thing I thought you might need. Sometimes... for some people... the world is too much. Too many people close by, too much noise, too much stimulus. These can help. They'll help stop outside noise, and you can listen to music. Or a book. Focus on anything else." He gives a faint shrug and passes them over, "I included some music and some audiobooks on the history and culture of Japan. Stuff meant for foreigners. I hope they help."

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
"Oh, no, I'm not going to go into the building to resign I'm just going to shoot an email to HR." Yes, she plans to quit through email. Which is basically as anti-japanese as one can get. "And it's not like they won't find out I'm alive one way or another, even with the silver hair I haven't changed /that/ much."

An oolong tea bag is pulled out of the wire drawers, torn open and the bag placed in the cup. She does a little circular pour of the hot water over it, one of those semi-fancy triangle-shaped tea bags. Still not as good as fresh or loose leaf, but decent enough. As the tea steeps, she grabs a little mini-folding card table from beside the counter to open up and set out. "Careful, this one is a little rickety." She comments as she brings the teacup over for Koji.

The offered cards are looked at as she muses on Koji's words. "...Maybe not, but..." She pauses.
"I swore an oath I believed in when I lived on Tungeturm." She glances at the worn out jacket hanging near the door with those faded defense force words on them. "To defend those who cannot defend themselves, to stop those who would bring harm to my home and repel animals that would bring danger to it as well." She pauses, giving a bit of an awkward chuckle. "I uh. I accidentally nullified my oath with erasing my bloodline's noble titles but that's something I can fix at some point." She shrugs helplessly.

She reaches to take the two cards, turning them over to look at them. "Even if I stopped using magic... I don't think that would stop." She says thoughtfully. "Because this world is ... beautiful and chaotic and wonderful in ways that I had scarcely been able to imagine growing up on a mining world like Tungeturm. A world that is mostly dirt, with plantlife... I'd say the closest equivalent is desert-like plantlife. Almost as dangerous as the animals." It's a fond look on her face as she's talking about Tungeturm, as horrible and space australia as it sounds.

"So... yeah. Exploring tokyo is probably going to happen for sure." She glances at the headphones, and the explanation of them. "Mmm." She takes her seat again, with her own cup of tea -- a cinnamon apple spiced something or other -- to sip on. "Did she pass away, or is she... just... elsewhere now?" She asks gently, almost seeming hesitant to take the headphones.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Not one to name names, Koji says, "She... there was too much, I have to assume. She left. And I don't fault her. Sometimes... life is too much. All I can hope is that she's out there someplace living a life that's... better for her."

The thought of quitting by e-mail does leave him with a smile, and then he just nods as he chews on everything that has been said, and finally just gives a shrug. At the perfect moment, he reaches over, and removes the tea bag from his brew, and instead of putting it on the desk, or letting it drip on the floor, he just Storages it to dispose of later, leaving everything neat in the room, "Sounds like a place my father would love. I mean, sans the dangerous animals... or maybe even because of." He seems to be treading lightly, but adds, "He used to get us all to go camping together when I was younger. Up into the hills and mountains outside of the city. He loves to fish when he can, always brings it home."

The gripe comes in the most blase fashion, "And then he forgets he didn't skin it, or prepare it, and loudly declares it's dinner, and so I had to be the one to prepare it."

Looking around once more, he picks up his cup and holds it carefully, "I think it's something I saw in you when we first met, something I recognized in myself. We both were burdened with being adults before we should have been. Maybe mine was a little more self-imposed... but I was a very bright boy, with a very lazy father and a very busy mother... so much so at times that the only way I felt like I could... be around them... was to do everything else. I learned to cook, clean up the house, prepare lunches, shop groceries... I've been told that if I ever find that one true... whatever... I'll be a wonderful househusband."

But as he sips his tea, he grins, "Though I think it makes me a bit of a control freak. If my personal sense of order is disturbed, I can be very... annoyed."

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Aloisia gives a small nod at that explanation of the girl who left. "Hopefully you are correct on that. That she is just living a good life, that is." There's certainly worse ways to no longer be a mahou at least. "The mines on Tungeturm are something to see. The planet is steeped in magic, so the gemstones that make up device cores grow underground there naturally, and the miners who work there have figured out methods to help further growth so that they can be harvested sustainably. It's not fast, but the cores for Intelligent Devices are difficult enough to come by that it is a pretty significant source of income for the planet." It's also probably why the cores for Doppelwand were so huge, being from Tungeturm.

The talk of the fish gets a soft chuckle. "Ah, poorly thought out I see... or perhaps he thought that it was a fair trade for doing the work of hunting the fish." She says bemusedly. "I..." She pauses.

"You're not wrong in that assessment. My training and ... honestly brainwashing ... started when I was very young. I was likely significantly worse when I started my journey to earth, but multiple years of almost entirely being alone save for your Device certainly change a person." She shifts slightly in her chair. "My mother is likely the only reason I didn't ... completely just end up a near-mindless soldier. She was very kind and pushed me to involve myself in things other than my training, it's why I learned how to work on my devices and even work in the mines alongside the miners sometimes."

The mention of being a wonderful househusband gets a chuckle. "I have heard tell of girlfriends. The existence of girlfriends mean that there must be girlfoes. I believe that is a role I shall be able to fulfill nicely." She says half-jokingly. "...But yes. It is ... when things are Wrong it does feel a bit strange. I had to spend so much time cleaning this room after coming back." She shudders slightly, thinking of all of the dust and grime that had built up.

Koji Silvia has posed:
For either no reason whatsoever, or the whole talk about cleaning... it starts a chuckle in the long-haired young man. Something that starts in the belly and just makes itself known as he bends slightly. As it comes out, it's a merry little thing, and he begins shivering in his shoulders, just before it turns into a laugh!

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Koji is laughing. There is a moment of pause as he starts laughing and it gets louder, a moment when Aloe is wondering if she should be concerned. ...But eventually she does start to laugh with him, but it /does/ start out a little bit unsure at first before she just lets herself go and fully join in. ... Eventually she does go.

"...Haaaa.... so what are we laughing about?"

Koji Silvia has posed:
Slipping back to pure Japanese for a moment, he smiles and rubs the back of his neck, "Gomen Gomen..."

Actually taking off his glasses, he wipes at his eyes a moment, and the replaces them, "It's just nice to meet someone else who actually thinks to clean their room when they get back. I don't know how many nights I've gone out to... do as we do... and the very first thing I do when I get back... is tidy up."

He continues to grin, "I could see you just like me. You've just gotten back from fighting something very large and very nasty, and your Device's armoring is all scuffed and torn, you're an utter mess... but the first thing you think to yourself is 'Oh, I need to pick up in here.'."

And he admittedly almost breaks out in laughter again, but it's like a mirror, you can see where his mind has done EXACTLY that to him more than once!

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
"A clean room is the source of a structured life! Or ... something like that. It mostly just comes from the Tungeturm Defense Force training. It didn't matter how tired I was, my priorities were always to be my Device, my living space, and finally cleaning myself unless I was dirty in such a way that trying to clean would just make it dirtier." Aloisia chuckles softly. "Trust me, you don't want to have seen how things looked when I got back, I think I may have been cultivating a new species of ... something ... in here." She grimaces. "I had to get a new fridge, I couldn't get the smell out of the old one."

Koji Silvia has posed:
And with that, Koji points towards the laptop, "So... unless you weren't aware. The furniture for the rooms is provided by the school. There's a catalogue you can access on the computer, and even put in a work order if you need the carpet replaced or the walls repaired. With the roommate I had, we became VERY aware of how robust the school's services were."

Motioning towards the cot and the uncomfortable camp chair, "I am sure they can get you a replacement fridge, I mean... I have one in my room too. I do a lot of meal-prep there... even though technically I shouldn't. It's why I had all of those things in my Storage. It's a habit we've all sort of developed. But I'm not as much for sweets as some others, so I tend to pack high-carb savory foods."

There another moment, and then he ohs, "Also... if you want to work out. And by that I mean spar... let me know. My mother gave me a rather hefty primer on the fighting arts, and I've had a LOT of practice out there. I don't rely fully on magic like most others do, and... it sounds like it's something you might enjoy."

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
"Ah, they'd vaguely told me about that, but when I was first moving in I was probably still a bit shellshocked from the crashlanding and being extracted from half of a ship that was cut open with a beam from a small child." Frankly, this planet, as Chrono has mentioned, is some absolute nonsense. "I ... might take advantage of it. I'd actually chosen to get the cot and chair intentionally, not out of hardship, but considering I am not in an army anymore, it's not really necessary to hold to that style of spartan-ness." She says, musing on that.

"Maybe get some posters or something too. The artists of this world make some rather entertaining things." Not that Tungeturm didn't have art and such, but being a mining world it was not really the focus. "Try my hand at sculpting or something... I do somewhat miss working with raw materials at times. Not that I was ever the best at shaping the gemstones, but everyone ended up learning a little..." She muses.

Regarding sparring, she gives a small smirk. "Sure, though I will..." She pauses, glancing at the Zweihander, which causes the smirk to drop ever so slightly. "...Have to drastically hold back so as not to break an ancient Storage Device that is likely older than all of the magical people on this planet combined that probably belongs in a museum." Ha ha ha ha. She is going to have to reinforce that thing a lot because frankly she already destroyed multiple things that should have been in a museum.

Koji Silvia has posed:
He holds up a finger to forestall that, "We won't fight with them... our Devices. We'll fight hand to hand, or we'll use practice weapons. Swordsmanship, spears, archery, amazingly... we have clubs that do all of these. Several people you know are in what we call the Kendo club, which is sword arts. I can borrow some wooden knives, you can borrow a wooden sword, and we can beat each other up like civilized people."

Backtracking a moment, "There's clubs for sculpture with claw and stone, even those that make costumes, so you could work with some jewelry too. I'm in the Gymnastics and the Computer clubs myself. I wanted an athletic club and a technical club on my records for when I apply to a higher school. I'm not anything good at the level of you or Rashmi... Device inner working make only minor sense to me... but I am good with our technology. I regularly rebuild things like those headphones, or game systems, even the computer is one I fixed up."

His voice doesn't rise to a level of excitement, but there is an undertone to it, "I bet if you asked, Rashmi and some of the others would love to take you shopping for posters and decorations for your room too. It lets them help you."

But finally, he shades a little red, and adds, "And I'm sorry about that crack midblade... that's my fault. We were in a fight, and I needed to sever the arm off a giant robot, and Hanzo's not good for something like that... so I drew the old fellow out and gave it a good whack. If it's any credit to his design... I took the arm right off at the shoulder... buuut... sorry..."

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
"Ooh, going full training mode. You know that is probably smarter, and if we weave in magic it can help with training our magical energy." Not that much output ever happened outside of henshin, but it was still good practice. "And I already signed up for the Kendo club at the suggestion of the Ginga Crew." Aloisia says with a small nod. "So I believe I'll be seeing you at some point!"

Sculpture with claw and stone. Costume and jewelry-making clubs. Gymnastics... computers... hum. "Ah, I'm actually mostly best at in-depth maintenance. I can change out parts and do basic upgrades, fix the worst of damages -- but I'm not at, say, Meister level like Rashmi. Even what I'm doing with the Armed Device there." She motions towards the zweihander. "Is mostly updating the parts to reinforce them and remove some of the limiters that were placed on it to make it safer for use in ceremonial services." She pauses.

The talk of the shopping, and also the talk of the crack in the sword. She doesn't look upset, instead?

She breaks out into laughter in response. "You did that? With a ceremonial blade? Oh dear kaizar, the fact it only has a /crack/ is honestly a wonder, and its original wielder probably was smiling from the afterlife at such a thing." She grins as she rests a hand on the blade. "Luckily, I have some small skill with Alchemy so such things are repairable. I, technically, in midchildan terms, would be designated as a support mage." She pauses. "No, I don't act like one, but frontline vanguard is a hybrid role."

Koji Silvia has posed:
Despite the reassurance, he almost looks ashamed, "Well... knowing what I know about Belkans... I thought maybe giving him a chance to feel like a sword again might let us bond... but nothing connected even after that, so... maybe I just woke him up enough that he could find you."

For that, he does smile at the beaten up old sword, and then shakes his head, "Listen. If you want to talk. Like this... anytime. Let me know. I don't know... it just feels like... we were friends before we met. If that makes sense." He then cracks that smile, "I hid the sword from Rashmi because I thought she'd give me such a LOOK, and here you are laughing about it. It's honestly a relief. And if what you just said is true... either I'm luckier, or I've got more skill than I thought." He finishes off his tea, and then almost instinctively, takes a napkin from the table to clean the cup for you, "I also... and I hope you don't mind... I told my mother about you. She's former military too. TSAB ground forces. Don't press her on what she can and can't remember... it's a touchy subject. But she did agree if you ever want to get away from all of this, you're welcome to visit their place. Of course I'll have to come too, but at least that means you get to suffer my cooking."

The word suffer has enough irony dripping from it, it's palpable, "But it looks like for now, you've got more than enough to keep busy. I put my contact information on the computer, in case you already had a phone, and my e-mail. I didn't want you to feel like you had to go stalking around the school looking for me."

And at last as he stands, he say, "And... it's Koji. Not just Silvia. Alright?"