2036/Untitled Skip Scene

Untitled Skip Scene
Date of Scene:	02 November 2024
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy
Synopsis:	Amy Faust and Molly Skyline run into a delinquent Emi Hoshino.
Cast of Characters:	Emi Hoshino, Molly Skyline, Amanda Faust

---

Emi Hoshino has posed:
It is a beautiful day at Radiant Heart Academy and you are a terrible delinquent.

Emi Hoshino -- the terrible delinquent in question -- no-showed her last class of the day. Instead, Emi has seemingly chosen to nap on one of the many benches scattered throughout the courtyard. Head tilted back, face turned upwards towards an overcast sky that grows more colorful by the moment for the setting of the sun, she luxriates in the early evening's cool breeze, and the quiet and solitude of this particular moment for her.

She is unmoving, in something of apparent dissaray, creating a further aura of insouciant disrespect for the institution in whose shade she sits so enjoyably.

In a quiet that is absolutely about to be broken.

Molly Skyline has posed:
When you're a Mahou and your sworn task is fighting monsters, you don't always get to choose what time of day the fights happen. Sometimes, they happen while you're supposed to be in school... and, well, what're you gonna do? Skip out on being a magical hero, so you can sit through an hour and change of math class? Or skip math and go fight the clear threat?

Turns out you go fight the threat. Oh well; catch up on the homework later.

Molly lands in the less popular courtyard, after a quick reconnoiter to make sure the coast was clear. ...Yeah, just one person sleeping on a bench.

The purplenette drops down to the ground, resting her staff on her shoulder. << Coast is clear Amy-chan,>> she projects to her companion, <<Safe to land, hopefully... we weren't like... super mised from class. I'm gonna have to do a lot of extra homework tonight.>>

After broadcasting, she shifts out of henshin; her staff turns back into an earring, and her barrier jacket folds itself back into it's undeployed state, leaving her in school uniform once more...

...Albeit with her shirt untucked from her skirt.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Upon the suggestion that she can ride Starcrash like a broom while Molly uses Flier Fin, Amy's eyes positively sparkle. She's changed her outfit into a witch costume in an instant and cannot stop grinning as they fly.

    But all good things must come to an end, and they're back at school. "It's fine. I already took Calculus plenty anyway. Um... if you need help with the homework let me know." She, too, de-henshins and hugs Molly.

    "How are... how are you doing in classes, with all the times we miss? I... don't really worry about it so much anymore, but... like... I haven't thought to check in with friends about it."

    Amy rubs the back of her head. "Does not worrying about my grades this time around make me a delinquent...?"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
It's just a few moments before class is due to end and the student body is spill out of home room. The girl on the bench with the lightly colored pink in her hair starts to shift bonelessly on the bench, arms going up over her head with a huge and perhaps deliberately obnoxiously loud yawn.

Then she's back to slouching, a hand on her bookbag, before one eye *slowly* opens and squints in the direction of the two students who also decided to skip class today. She points to her eye before them.

As if to say 'I see you what you're doing 'over there'. Both eyes then open, one blue one green, and she places her hands behind her head as the first drops of rain from the overcast skies begin to make themselves known.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"It does not make you Delinquent." Molly shakes her head. "You're not skipping class to go slack off or watch a movie or smoke weed in an alleyway or something. You're skipping class so you can stop a monster from hurting innocent people. ...Which is entirely noble, even if it does hurt your grades a little."

Molly shrugs her shoulders lightly. "I mean... definitely my marks are not quite as high as they could be, but I just... well, I study with Rashmi-chan whenever I'm falling behind and because she's the smartest person on the planet, it means even a dummy like me can manage to keep up. Which is good, 'cause I'd really like to get into some of the automotive classes, and I need good grades for that. Just... Y'know. Feels like good stuff to know if I ever wanna be a race car driver."

And then... oh it's raining. Molly hasn't clued in that the sleeping person is now an awake, eavesdropping person; but the rain is hard to miss. "Umbrella, Retrieve," she instructs, and then... she's holding an umbrella; and when she unfurls it, it's the LGBT rainbow colors, proudly hoisted up over her head and held to the side so Amy can shelter under it as well.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    When Molly lists examples of delinquent behavior, Amy wonders, "I mean... people doing that... there's probably some reason they're struggling in class in the first place and... if it starts feeling pointless or frustrating... of course they'll wanna do something else."

    She pats Molly's shoulder. "High school grades won't determine the rest of your life. It's not like anyone puts those on their resume." And then she feels rain hit her and looks up. Before she can decide what to do about it, rainbow umbrella!

    "Okay, that is seriously convenient. How much inventory space do you have in there?"

    Amy taps her chin. "...You know, D&D and Nethack players have no doubt discussed what they think they'd use a bag of holding for in real life, but... what do you actually end up using it for? Is there anything you wouldn't have expected that makes so much sense in retrospect?"

    And then as she glances around she sees Emi looking back at them and freezes, not sure what to say.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi has no idea what they're talking about -- she wasn't really paying attention to them appearances perhaps to the contrary -- and what she did hear absolutely sounds like a discussion of Dungeons and Draohs, especially after they bring it up. These are the kinds of theoertical discussions nerds have all the time. Emi reaches for her bag, then, and pulls out her parasol. Like any good goth -- despite the school uniform -- she has one.

She holds it up in point of fact and presses its button, deploying it. It is black, of course, and embroidered with elaborate spider-webs atop it and then she raises it over her head and reclines.

"Skipping class to play nerd games," she says, casually, "For shame. Don't worry, though. I won't tell if you won't." She has raised one hand over her face, peeking at them between her fingertips with her blue eye. Her smile is slightly ... intense. She'll make a find Yandere one day.

Molly Skyline has posed:
MOlly misses a step, and almost goes down on her knees. She meant to do that. Totally meant it. What? She's coordinated. Completely meant to do that! She's not blushing. What are you looking at?

"Uhm. Yeah, nerd games," she agrees, shrugging her shoulders. "We play nerd games. I love Dungeons and Dragons, and RIFTs, and y'know what? I managed to get some used copies of the D20 Modern Core Book along with D20 Future and Urban Arcana off the internet. In English, mind you." She shrugs her shoulders.

Glancing sideways to Amy, she ahems, "My... 'bag of holding' can store quite a bit. Since my... Sorceress is kinda low on Strength, she uses it to carry anything heavy or inconvent, like... umbrellas! Or school books and spellbooks, food -- it'll even keep it hot -- potions, and anything I want to keep secure I can put in there too. Since only I can access it."

She looks back to Emi, and plants a hand on her hip. "You're one to talk. What're you doing, sleeping out here? Hmmmmmmmm?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    SKIPPING CLASS TO PLAY D&D? "We're not!" Amy replies, scandalized before she can realize that denying it is... maybe not what she should do here? "I wh-- um..." She looks to Molly to see if the other teenager has a superior social play here!

    Stumbling and falling. It's an unconventional play, but let's see where it goes.

    "Oh man, do you think she's heard of RIFTS? Do you think anyone else at this school has heard of RIFTS?" Amy looks excited at the prospect.

    "Um... you know the modern and future and urban arcana were all in the SRD, right? I can send you copies. It's only like... Dark Matter that wasn't. And that other book with extra rules for D20 Future I forget the name of. "

    Amy's eyes widen. "Wait, it keeps food hot?! Or cold? Damn, that's... That is a convenience I never thought about but sounds like you'd get used to it super fast."

    "...D20 Apocalypse? I think? I think maybe that was it. I'll check on my computer when I get back to it."

    Amy follows Molly's gaze back to Emi oh right. Although-- "I mean, sometimes I was super tired and took a nap at work! Aaaat my Summer job. Sometimes people are tired, like, why do they make us get up so early?"

    She has completely lost the thread of whatever she was supposed to be arguing about.

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Emi Hoshino stares at them. Uncomprehending. Too Cool To Know.

That's Emi.

She kicks back again, twirling her parasol without a care in the world, it would seem. She speaks again, her voice being something that would perhaps be best described under the term of 'contralto', before lazily and with some disrespect bowing towards Molly at her rebuke.

"It's a nice day for a nap, don't you think?" She smiles at her again, "And it's not like I'd anything *better* to do." Someone doesn't think much of class, it would seem. After Amy enthuses, however, she lets out a somewhat exagerated sigh.

"Nerd games," she repeats.

Molly Skyline has posed:
The purplenette gives her own umbrella a little spin, and hmphs!, squaring her shoulders and standing a little straighter. "Nothing better to do, hunh?" She flashes a grin. "Whaddaya think, Amy? Maybe she could've, oh I dunno... gone to class? Y'know, the place where you learn things. So you can become smart enough to skip occasionally, without getting into big trouble 'cause it's so out of character for you and you must've had a good reason." She nods, sagely. "Also the nerd games aren't just like tic-tac-toe. Math, public speaking, probability and resource management..."

Molly apparently decides she's laying on the passive-aggressiveness just a bit thick. It is a bit much? Yes? "Anyway," she continues to address Emi, "I'm sure you can do it. Let us know if you ever want help studying. I'm Molly Skyline, this is my friend Amy."

She'll let Amy supply her own last name if she wants to.

"And yeah, it keeps my food warm," she adds, tilting her head to Amy. "And yeah... I knew you could get all that stuff, but I had physicaly copies I loaned out back in England and never got back before moving here, so... I really want copies again. Plus mine were worn out and the ones I'm getting now are supposed to be basically mint, so I'm super excited."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy frowns as 'nerd games' is reiterated. She gently mock-punches Molly in the shoulder as she lectures. "Hey."

    She does smile at the enthusiasm over the books, though. "I have my 5E corebooks here. If you don't have copies yet, they're yours if you want them. Barely touched." She can see they'd mean far more to Molly than to her.

    But, the other thing...

    She walks over to Emi imperiously, and puts her hands on her hips. The rain is just beginning to drizzle, so she's not getting soaked for leaving the safety of Molly's umbrella. Yet.

    "Alright then. So if you've got better stuff to do, what is it? Let's say I'm writing a story. About a girl who was a little goodie-two-shoes honor student, and graduated, and went through college, and never went to any parties because she was an awkward geek who... believed she was ugly and barely had any friends, then graduated and got an office job, but that always kind of wondered what the stuff she missed was like."

    She watches Emi, her expression expectant of some response as she continues, "And then one day, she's magically transformed into a teenager and has to do it all over again, and she wants to know what she missed, but doesn't know how. To be someone who goes to parties and finds out what the big deal was, why everyone else regards staying in on a Friday night playing videogames or Dungeons & Dragons as a waste."

    "What's so great, little miss not-a-nerd? What is the character in my story really missing out on, and how does she see what's really so great about it?"

Emi Hoshino has posed:
Passive aggressiveness? In Japan? No. No way. Unheard of.

The names earn an arch of an eyebrow before she returns to her too-cool expression of insouciance. It's a well practiced veil that slips over her face, that, and she closes one eye again, this time observing them through the green one. Certainly, playing up the oddness of her odd-eyes.

"Oh, is that right. Very kind of you. I'm sure I won't need to take up your evidentally highly valuable time for myself. As always, I will suffice." Her eyes go towards the bundles of students dispensing from class silently, the burbling murmurs of words exchanged and goodbyes give, the sea of umbrellas that rise to shelter under. She casually twirls her own again as she listens. She's about to answer when she's queried about what it is she actually wants to do, but then Amy speaks. And speaks some more. In fact, as she does, she can watch as Emi's eyebrows rise a little -- then move perpetually upwards until they seem, as one might say, ready to crawl off her face.

When she finishes, Emi gives a thoughtful little 'hmmmmm' and casually twirls her umbrella again in a hand that grips it all too tightly, like the very proximity is making her uncombortable. Then again, she is pretty clealy traditionally Japanese that way.

"... is ... is this some kind of two chan thing? Or like an Isekai fan fiction?" she asks. "Not excactly beating the otaku allegations here," she remarks, casually.

"How am I supposed to know the answer to all that? I'm fourteen and its *your* story to tell, not mine." She gives a one shoulder shrug. "I mean, I said its a nerd game and I don't really care how you decide to waste your time. It's your time to waste. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, not even someone as cool as me," she deadpands.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Aww, Amy, that's awesome of you. But I didn't lend out my 5E books, I've still got mine... *but* if you're looking to unload them, check with Rashmi? I don't think she has them and I bet she'd love 'em." Molly shifts the rainbow umbrella to rest on her shoulder, as Amy emerges from it; it's still protecting her from the rain, more or less. Enough at least, to keep the rain off her spectacles, which is the really important part.

"I'm happy to use my time to help people out," she continues, quirking an eyebrow upwards. Well, not high enough to crawl off her face or anything. "And if you ever change your mind about wanting study buddies, let me know, the offer stands." She pauses, and smirks. "Where I come from, coolness is demonstrated, not declared. And sleeping on a bench in the middle of a courtyard is... well it's the only thing I've seen you do, and it's not very cool. BUT." She holds up one finger. "I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt, but only as long as you remember one very important, very incontrovertible fact:"

"Dungeons and Dragons and the other 'nerd games' are *extremely* cool."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "It's not isekai 'cuz it's in the same world. I guess it'd count as reincarnarion, though." She shrugs. "Who said I was seeking to beat the otaku allegations?"

    "...So you've got nothing." she sounds more... pitying than disappointed. "You don't know either, do you? You don't go to class, but you don't have something else."

    Amy turns and walks back towards Molly, although she does stop for a moment and turn back to Emi. "If you always need more sleep, see the nurse. It might be that you have a treatable medical condition, and it would be horrible for you to be seen as lazy because of it. Or to come to believe you are lazy, just because you're struggling with something those around you aren't."

    Amy walks back to Molly. "So what do you think the odds are she's a cat that got turned into a human? Sleeps during the day, on benches, and is convinced she's cool even though she didn't do anything..."

    Amy blinks as she finishes listing all that off, and looks a bit alarmed. "I was kidding, but... shit... I dunno, the more I think about it..."

Emi Hoshino has posed:
"Eh," says Emi, giving a noncommital handwobble towards Amy's reaction, though the 'so you've got noting' causes a brief narrowing of her eyes.

"Fourteen," she repeats, "Any fourteen year old who thinks they've got it figured out is lying to you. Sounds like neither of us have any answers."

She listened to Molly, however, and kicks her legs out in front of her, stretching them out.

"It's a lovely day for a nap, really, the subtle whispers of the wind through the branches, the burbling murmurs of the student body as it passes by, and of course, the unbearable coolness of being me." Her voice never rises above her deadpanned snark.

"I'll bear that in mind, despite having nothing to prove to either of you, who seem particualrly eager to run down someone they've never met for calling them a couple of Otaku. Perhaps you're not so far from removed from Japanese culture as I might have assumed. After all, the nails that stick out get hammered down. Anyway, I've got a movie to --"

She's cut off by the arrival of an older gentlemen who was clearly looking right for her. He's not one of the staff here, but he *is* wearing a lovely tailored suit.

"Young Hoshino," he chastises, "I was looking for you at your class."

"...ah," says Emi, "was today that day? Forgive me, Mister Sato, I just plain forgot all about the terms and conditions."

".. of your *probation*," he emphasizes, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Come along, now. I think we need to have a little chat. Young ladies," he gives them a pointed nod while gently 'encouraging' Emi to come along with him. With a big old smile, Emi rises to her feet, snaps closed her umbrella and sticks it in her bag to let the drizzling rain free fall on her head.

"Oooh. Busted," she remarks with an indignant smirk before she strolls off with him.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly shrugs, holding out her free hand palm-up, "Hey, I'm not judging. Well... I mean maybe I was a little." She shrugs her shoulders lightly. "But you called my favorite pass-time a 'nerd game' and that annoyed me. But the offer for help was genuine." She starts meandering towards the door, "But hey, if you want to be unbearably cool out here on the bench, I mean... well you do whatever you wanna do, I didn't have anything figured out when I was fourteen either and I can basically tell you I still don't."

She stops, and chews on that for a second. "Well, other than wanting to be a race car driver when I grow up, I've got that much figured."

The purplenette looks back to Amy, "Come on, we'd better get going or we'll be late for our next classes, and we've already missed one today so I don't think we wanna go down that road. And personally I--"

And then, it all unfolds.

Wait a second; the super cool girl who sleeps on benches during class is... on probation? And she's apparently not treating it overly seriously? Now one of Molly's eyebrows really does climb high enough on her face as to almost detach itself and just keep going.

"...Hunh," she murmurs, just for Amy to hear, "Well how about that."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Any fourteen year old who thinks they've got it figure out is lying to you. "Well. Sounds like you've got some wisdom beyond the average fourteen-year-old, too." Beat. "...Any forty-year-old who tells you they've got life totally figured out is lying, too. No one does."

    "This isn't about 'bringing you down to our level'. We're doing fine."

    She stands close to Molly as the truancy officer(?) talks to the other girl. After watching them go, Amy comments, "I don't know if we can help everyone... but I still feel bad for her. She didn't seem happy, after all."

    She follows Molly. "If you know you want to be a race car driver when you grow up, you've got things more figured out than me. Last time and this time."