1116/Shameless Bribery

Shameless Bribery
Date of Scene:	14 February 2024
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	Kazuo has Questions. So of course, he goes to Naru. Because she has been surviving living in the dorms this entire year and obviously will have good ideas for things like
Cast of Characters:	Kazuo Saitou, Naru Osaka

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Kazuo Saitou has posed:
The start of the third term presented a minor change in routine for the Morning Runs, because Kazuo is now more easily at hand; he has been dropped into an annoyingly-placed single in one of the dorms, instead of living at home with his family (read: living at home with his mother). So far, that's been the only alteration visible for Naru.

So far, until there is an early-evening tapping at the door (or doorframe) of the Tsukino-Osaka Dorm Room.

Annnd it comes attached to long white hair.

"Hey," Kazuo says when (if, but presumably when) the door is answered. A small bag is casually offered, with a grin. "You still keeping coffee in here, or have you gone over to the espresso dealer one hundred percent of the time now?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
It is most assuredly a 'when' for the door being opened. There's only Naru in there, and based on the configurations of lights, she's been doing homework. She blinks up at Kazuo and then she laughs as she reaches for the back andturns to let him follow her into the room. "As tempting as it was to use his being the only coffee as an excuse to go visit.. sometimes I dont actually /want/ to spend half an hour.. or more.. getting a coffee, no matter how delightful the company."

Naru is headed for the little kitchen esque set up, to put the kettle on for pour overs. She doesn't even need to ask if he'd like one. The inturruption is an excellent excuse. Finally she thinks to peek into the bag. "What brings you by to visit?"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
The bag contains sample packs of new-to-the-room coffees, and three of an actually new-to-the-shelves flavor of vegan protein bar. "Shameless bribery," Kazuo replies. "I need to ask somebody survival questions." He pauses. "No, actual mundane survival. How do you manage to sleep on these beds? I've been trying for a month, and I'm not sure if my spine has hired a hitman or actually turned into one."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru can't help but laugh at the bribery, and she does look over at him with an arch of her brow at the 'survival', but then laughs again when it's true mundane survival. She sets the bag down next to the kettle that's considering it's life.

"I mean.. being almost two feet shorter than you /really/ helps." Naru points out before she gestures him over towards her bed. Not nearly as salicious as it might seem, she just pulls back the edge of the blankets and sheet to show the squishy topper. "I found that a topper helps with the lumps, sort of filling in the worst of the bits." She considers. "Also, flip it over.. and turn it around until you find the least lumpy spots." Her expression is rueful. "The beds /are/ a bit of an adventure."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
The edge of the topper is examined with a fascination appropriate to such arcane secrets. "A topper," Kazuo repeats. Name of secret mystery memorized! There shall presumably be Google and eventual shopper. "Thanks. I'd figured it'd be no problem - they're longer than I'm used to sleeping on anyway. No. No. They're flat. And the walls are cold. And if you turn it around so there's no wall, there's nothing to stop you from falling off the back. They're weird. I'd be sleeping on the floor by now, except Mamoru would probably give me the patented Appalled Look again. You can flip these over? I'll try that, it can't be worse."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"It's some sort of foam stuff.. it's not perfect, but it helps." Naru considers and then leans onto her bed to reach over and touch the wall. "I dont find it that cold, but I think I shove blankets up against it if I do find it cold. I'm on an interior wall though." Which makes a huge difference.

Naru pffts softly. "Its your room, sleep on the floor if you want! Mamoru can sleep on the bed if he doesn't like it." She grins easily and then gestures again. "Yeah.. I flipped mine over, and it made a huge difference. Head to foot or vice versa, not much of a difference, but it really just depends on the exact lump location." She looks up at him and twists a wry smile. "I suppose this isn't the moment to ask how you're enjoying the dorms, hmm?"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Blankets," Kazuo repeats reflectively. All these strange new concepts. "Maybe I can put up a curtain over the wall, or something." Or cushions. Or both. Slowly transforming the bed back into something reasonable to sleep on, like a couch.

Kazuo laughs, then. "Mamoru has his own bed to sleep on. I didn't oust Silvia, they just stuck me in a space with the least headroom possible. But aside from not having slept regularly for a month, it's all right. Weird to be eating someone else's cooking all the time, but at least that's a time-saver."

A pause. "Okay, it's all right except for the bed and the people playing music that is somehow more annoying than my mother's, and she plays it to annoy me on purpose." A beat. "And people's ideas of cleaning." Another beat. "... how do you keep from committing mass murder every term."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Yeah.. oooh.. make it all european medieval and put up a tapestry." Naru grins at the idea. "Decorate and warm it up." She moves towards the kettle as it starts to come to some conclusions about water temperature and gets out a pair of mugs.

"I don't mind eating someone else's cooking, and noise cancelling headphones are a /must/ if you're trying to study." Naru wanders over to her desk and picks up hers and offers them to him. "Try them.. see." They're over the ear style, they're close but not exactly 'share ear buds' close.

Naru laughs softly. "I live with Usagi and Luna and I'm pretty sure we have half the dorm stop by randomly.. sometimes through sigils in the ceiling. There's a point at which you just learn to tun it all out."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Naru's grin wins Kazuo's laugh. "If I put up a European tapestry, my grandmother will sense it from hundreds of miles away and come storming down to inform me that if I love that rag so much, she'll bury me in it in the morning. But that's a good thought."

There's a little flicker of fingers that somehow manages a thank-you-but-maybe-not at the headphones, though he scans them for any hint of the brand logo. Naru's already covered being smaller than him. He does not want to risk breaking her study necessities by testing them out.

And then... well. "Sigils in the ceiling?" Kazuo tips his head back to examine the ceiling. With due suspicion. "I missed something again, didn't I? Tell me they don't come preinstalled."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"They adjust in size." Naru notes to him as he checks out her headphones and then she admits, only a touch sheepishly. "While I /can/ wear the kids ones.. they didn't hold up as well. Those should fit you to try at least."

Mugs. Coffee. Hot water. There's hot beverages in the making. "Oh the sigil thing was AGES ago now. It's been quiet .. mostly.. since the boys got themselves purified." She mmms softly. "A little too quiet, all in all.. but not really, I suppose. Usagi's still busy as anything."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"I'd imagine. And someone's undoubtedly up to something we haven't seen yet." Kazuo does accept the headphones, testing carefully, pulling back his hair to keep it from being Naru's permanent inheritance in the joints. "It occurs to me, I didn't mention -- you do look good in claws."

Naru Osaka has posed:
There's very little that brings a blush to Naru's cheeks, but the mention of having been NekoNaru seems to be one of those few things. She ducks her head a touch, VERY focused on pouring hot water into mugs. "Er.. thank you?"

Naru turns to look at him and then there's an almost shy little smile. "It was a lot of fun. And super strange, cause it felt like.. beng someone else? Cause I kinda was.. I mean I /totally/ was, but I /did/ enjoy it." She offers him a mug. "I'm glad you were there, though." She nods at the headphones. "If you have them on.. you basically tune out the world. Which has some pros and cons."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
There's a wistfully regretful gaze at the headphones as Kazuo takes them all the way back off, readjusts them back to the size they were, and sets them where Naru picked them up from. "And when your visitors include multiple inveterate pranksters..." He heaves a melodramatic sigh. Poor, poor him. Having to deal with Mamoru and Izou. How awful. (He is never asking if she wears them around Usagi on purpose sometimes, because one does not do that to roommates who are basically sisters. Some things must never be spoken of.)

The mug is accepted with gratitude and relief once the tech is safely out of the way. "Thank you." A pause. "I admit to being a little curious whether you were being someone else, or whether you were being parts of you that don't get to get out much. But that is honestly your business, not mine. I'm glad you were having as much fun as you looked like you were, though."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"You can borrow them if you'd like." Naru gestures at the headphones. "See how you like them. There's a switch to be completely noise cancelling, or to just be like.. normal headphones, so you dont completely lose the world." Naru grins as she settles on the couch with her own hot beverage. "I've got ear buds I can use rather than those, so you won't be depriving me."

"Yet another time when I was borrowing someone else's power set via an item." Naru shakes her head at being herself. "Which is cool, and super flattering that people trust me with their stuff, but also a little like wearing someone else's clothes.. if that makes sense."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"No, they belong here, where if someone startles you too much Usagi will cry at them." There's a grin back at Naru - Kazuo does not settle, but he leans comfortably against the least-occupied patch of wall available, which at least makes him somewhat less tall. "If I use anything that involves lose-the-world possibilities, it's just going to wind up with a competition between idiots to see whether either of them can get me to scream, and that winds up with broken bones, and either Mamoru scolding me if they're not his or Usagi crying at me if they are. So it's to everyone's benefit, including mine, if you're twice over not deprived."

Kazuo considers the wearing-someone-else's-clothes part, and gives a lingering, rueful nod. "... it completely makes sense," he says. "I should've realized. I mean. You saw that outfit. I don't know why I didn't think it'd be parallel."

Maybe he just expects Naru to have her own hands-on weaponry somewhere, and claws were close enough.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I'm pretty hard to startle, even with headphones on." Naru points out with a flash of a smile. "But I totally get avoiding the idiot competition.. but if the music is going on overnight.. ear plugs to just take the edge off. They dont' noise cancel, it just makes it not quite so sharp."

"Chat Noir has his ring back, safe and sound. I don't expect to have claws again anytime soon, and that's okay." Naru sounds resigned to that reality. "Although at some point, when we're both somewhere with energy signatures to follow again.. I'd like to reconfirm that I can pick them out.. not well, but at least a little."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo's grin reappears, and widens slowly. "I bet we could get a half-dozen volunteers to help set up a test," he says. "A dozen if we actually tried, but there's such a thing as too many cooks. No offense to the Culinary Guardians."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I expect we probably can find some help with it.. it's true." Naru laughs softly and then drinks more of her coffee. "I think even the Culinary Guardians might agree with too many cooks.. they dont want to trip on each other either."

"When we were looking at shrines.. it was mostly following you, but I think I could feel a difference? But I dont trust that recollection, there was so much else going on." Naru admits quietly.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"You identified at least one spot I hadn't pointed out," Kazuo says firmly. "But more practice is good. Getting better accustomed to what you're picking up on, and how you perceive it. And confirming that you can pick up on things that aren't that disturbing."

... huh. If there were only a Culinary Guardian Coffee, they'd have no trouble at all getting Naru to test herself on figuring out which cup was the enchanted one...

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I thought I had." Naru mmms softly. "But then I started doubting it.. or wondering if I was just picking up on your body language to give me clues." She shakes her head. "More practice and confirmation is needed, for sure."

It's probably a mercy for whoever the Culinary Guardian Coffee might be that they are not at a magical school of caffeine addicts.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"I have no body language," Kazuo deadpans.

Possibly only because he's certain that Naru will not throw coffee at him.