Member
op2024
Noctis
Kayla Leigh04
wintersoldier
Emeth
TokyoPewPew
Sillyman59
rabidbacon
Red Hood
Volcanic Glass
What did one do with this so-called… “free time?” If Sylvia dared to ask that question out loud, she knew she would be treated as though she were an alien, but honestly, she had no idea other than staring at the last page of a novel that Ember had read before she forced Sylvia to the forefront. The others refused to front as well, even though there was nothing she could do, except play shiritori with herself until she inevitably lost.
She tried to plead with Ember, but the woman walled her off “for her own good”. The phrase tasted like ash on Sylvia’s lips and she almost begged to be let back into the second line of her own mindspace. Hotaru too, seemed intent on giving her her own time, citing how much pain she had taken on recently. She could not fault them for their intentions but… seriously, what could she do?
Sylvia sighed.
Counting the seconds did not prove as entertaining as she hoped. She also messed up several times with it, so she had no idea how long she had been here. But maybe a walk could help her find something? Anything. Anything that counted as a form of entertainment or company, a thought which caused Ember in the back of her head to snicker.
Fine then. A walk without aim it was. Roaming the school hallways along with the track field as though she were a lost spirit of sorts, Sylvia spotted someone who still put herself to the grinder despite the late hour. She could not see her, but really, there was only one who could have been it: Roche. The Rulekeeper… really kept the harshest of rules for herself, did she not?
Sylvia sighed again, leisurely taking her steps, almost tiptoeing closer. What did she even say to Roche? How did she start a conversation? Ask anyone else in their head and they would know it - Sylvia would not. What if Roche rejected her outright? What if there was no hope? What if…
Ember interrupted the movement of Sylvia’s legs and the latter almost fell face-first against the dirt. Her legs screeched against the surface, no doubt attracting Roche’s attention as she balanced herself by cartwheeling her hands and likely looking absolutely ridiculous from the outside.
The track team had already dispersed for the evening, but for a Magical Girl, endurance was more a suggestion than a hard limit. Roche pushed no one harder than herself, and she’d be damned before anyone accused her of not leading by example. Not that such integrity made her company any more palatable to others.
Respected. Tolerated. But sought after? Unlikely. She only had one girl do that to her in recent memory and that was more someone seeking her for her expertise. An exchange she did admittedly enjoy a great deal, and she found looking forward to in the mornings they met. But in the evening hours between school and Detention Club activities, she expected nothing more than solitude and the sounds of her own heart beat.
So the Rule Keeper was reasonable distracted when the sound of screeching shoes had her turn and see Shatterscape in her normal form, flailing her arms like she’d been about to trip over her own feet. The tanned track star pivoted and approached, breathing steadily with a sheen of perspiration coating her skin. “Hey there. Did you need something? It seems a little early for Miseria.”
Naturally her mind went to business, thinking this was about their nightly activities.
Sylvia’s heart thumped against her chest, the beats practically audible in her ears. What did she say? What did she say?! Naturally, only silence greeted her as she tried to come up with something, the awkward silence stretching for what felt like two or three eternities. She must have looked even worse than just a second before, almost frozen in place with an expression that could have been cut from a horrified marble statue.
“I’m sorry!” she ended up resorting to something familiar as she immediately bowed, her hands clasped beside her body as she bent forward at an almost ninety-degree angle. Her head faced the ground even as the blood in her veins pounded away like a volatile mixture of napalm and arctic ice, lips pursed tight, eyes shut.
“Wait, what?!” Roche sputtered out, confusion turning to shock and second-hand embarrassment as Sylvia was prostrating herself before her for seemingly no reason. Her head whipped side to side, checking if anyone was watching before quickly closing the distance and raising the other magical girl by her shoulders.
“Sheesh, don’t go doing stuff like that without a reason. What are you even sorry for?” Roche questioned, keeping a firm grip on Sylvia lest she trip or attempt escalate matters into full blown Dogeza before her. At the very least it seemed clear this wasn’t about business as usual.
Sylvia twitched as soon as Roche touched her, but she did not resist. It would have been useless anyway. Roche was stronger in this form than Sylvia - she felt it in her bones even though her companion did her best to handle the situation gently - raising Sylvia upwards regardless of what she wished for, her expression on plain display: eyes wide, lips pale and slightly open, face lacking any colour one could think of.
But at least some blood seemed to be returning to her experession after Roche spoke.
“Ummm… err… Hello?” tried Sylvia as she screamed for help in her head.
“I’m so sorry, Slyvi,” answered Ember. “But if I helped, It wouldn’t be your time.”
“She’s right,” smiled Hotaru. “Go on! Enjoy yourself! Maybe race her around the track and see where that gets you. It’s better than just sitting around, isn’t it?” She patted Sylvia on the metaphorical back. “You can do it!”
Unfortunately, Roche responded before Sylvia could say anything back.
“Are you having a seizure?” The Rule Keeper hadn’t considered the medical backgrounds of most of the club, but Nyxia proved that being a Magical Girl didn’t remove any existing illnesses or conditions. She didn’t panic, but seeing the near lifeless expression on Sylvia’s face before she slowly returned to her senses had the tanned girl increasingly alarmed. “Hey, let’s get you on a bench. I’m not exactly sure you should be standing after that.”
That made no sense whatsoever. Shutting her mouth so that nothing strange could leave it for some time, Sylvia had to fight against showing the confusion she felt. Butterflies swarmed up from her stomach and throughout her whole body, making it feel as though everything she say would be wrong in some way or could be misinterpreted or it could turn into an argument or maybe Roche would slap her or maybe…
“No…?” she half-whispered, half-asked, almost choking the words out. “I… err… I… umm. I don’t have,” A pause. A breath. More butterflies. More uncertainties. “A seizure.”
“Oh….Oh!” Roche faltered in her steps, arms locked in place before pulling away like they’d been thrust onto a stove top and not noticed the flames till that very moment. Roche was often cavalier with others and bossy, but that didn’t render her immune to being mortified at being so wrong.
Her arms crossed across her chest and she looked away, a flash of vulnerability in her failure. Gaze looking out across the campus, she worried her lip before turning back to Sylvia with a ragged sigh. “Sorry, that was rash. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions like-”
Her apology was stilted, and was then rudely interrupted by the rumble of her stomach. Embarrassment deepened and a faint rosy hue dusted her tanned cheeks as Roche tried to mask her discomfort with a weak laugh.
“Hey, do you wanna get something? We can talk while we eat.”
The butterflies continued their flight, their wings growing bladed edges as they danced across Sylvia’s body. She tried her best to keep her face neutral as Roche danced away from her, then, in another incomprehensible action, apologised to Sylvia about jumping to conclusions. But was it not her who was in the wrong here? She interrupted Roche in the first place by being an ugly, disobedient-
A growl like the roar of a lion, coming straight from the Rulekeeper’s stomach.
Slyvia did not even flinch as she heard it, her expression neutral.
“Okay. Being hungry… is not good.” It seemed that some of the butterflies wedged themselves under her tongue, between her teeth as the words came out haltingly. Awkwardly. Almost like they had immeasurable weight without having gravitas.
“Yes….it’s not.” The Rule Keeper felt she could be forgiven for not knowing where to go with that, but decided anywhere else was preferable to staying on school grounds a moment longer. She murmured an excuse before going to scoop up her gym bag from the grass along the track, a quick check confirming all her things were inside before waving Sylvia after her.
Fortunately High School’s were prime real estate for inexpensive eateries with high traffic, and Roche grinned seeing a KFC up ahead. Turning on the spot she offered Sylvia her bag, checking the street around them, and quickly transforming into Earth Shaker.
“Alright, you wait here and I’ll be back with a bucket of something warm.” Rubbing her palms together, she waited for another customer to open the door before slipping in behind them.
Sylvia followed as though she were a robot marching to Roche’s tune for the lack of any better options that came to mind. At least the butterflies inside her were quieting down as they walked, but they did nothing to improve the atmosphere. Such things were on her, a distant part of her consciousness reminded her, which meant she had to come up with a topic. Which meant she was back to thinking again.
Nodding to Roche instead of trusting herself with an answer, Sylvia took the opportunity for a break as her companion disappeared into the restaurant. Letting out a lungful of air, she centered herself and let the tension loosen from her body. She had not even realised she held it, but she felt immediately lighter and in a few seconds, she realised something she could talk about. Or try to. She was not as good at moving as Hotaru, but she could ask about the track team.
There was a topic now! Carefully keeping her expression neutral, she took the bucket that Roche returned with in silence, meaning to start the conversation after they had their fill and she had enough time to map out how their exchange could go. Firstly, she would have to be the one to speak up, apologising for her awkwardness. She could do tha-
The food tasted - at least to her sensibilities - like cold, mushed paper infused with sewage juice. She desperately tried to force it down so as not to offend her fellow dark girl, but it was a losing battle. The moment it touched her tongue, Sylvia coughed once - deliberately closing her mouth to avoid the worst - but the second cough had her spit it out and heave, doubling over in her seat as she tried to get her breathing under control.
Being invisible in Magical Girl form had often been an easy way to get free things, but it did come with the age old adage attached, ‘Beggars Can’t Be Choosers’. Roche had a great deal of experience lowering her expectations in these penny-pinching forays but it had slipped her mind that Sylvia might have had a developed pallet.
Biting into the chicken herself she didn’t even react to the cold, damp mess bereft of flavor. A steaming hot meal put in a container and left to sit for a terminally-late Pick-Up order was bound to be tepid but it would be the least noticed of all to go swiped off the counter.
Back in her untransformed state, Roche was startled from her chewing by Sylvia retching rather violently. Dropping her thigh to the sidewalk she rushed over, fretting with her hand patting at Sylvia’s back. “Shit, shit! Are you choking? Do you need something to drink?!”
Hastily setting down the bucket she rummaged into her bag, pulling out a squeeze bottle of water and giving it a shake to find she’d still left some water inside.
Struggling between breaths, all Sylvia could think of was that she would be exacting revenge on Hotaru and Ember for this, even if they did feel the very same cold, flavourless… disgusting… thing… that she did through their shared senses. The taste was momentary, but it remained with her for several extremely long seconds until her saviour arrived in the form of a water bottle.
Sylvia took a large gulp of it, washing her mouth of the taste as best she could before she lowered the bottle.
“I… umm. I’m sorry, I don’t think I can eat that,” she said with a halting, difficult cadence as she handed the bottle back to Roche, her gaze conspicuously directed towards the ground. “And uh… I’m sorry. I uhhh...” Wait a second. That was right. Chiaki knew how to cook. So did Ember. It would be not as easy as if they were the ones doing it, but Sylvia could borrow the knowledge. It might even be edible unlike the culinary affront she had just experienced!
“I want you to stop eating food like that!” Ooops. She had been too enthusiastic about finally finding something she could do. She did not mean for that to be so loud nor to sound so cheerful!
Roche had every intent of squirting the water into Sylvia’s open mouth but the girl was fast in her panic and took the bottle herself. Eyes wide, she watched as the fellow Dark Magical Girl guzzled its contents from a cap she’d been using earlier in her run. That certainly qualified as an indirect kiss, but Sylvia seemed too distracted to notice.
All too happy to stuff it back to the bottom of her bag, Roche took the sudden change of direction as the coughing girl blurted out her true feelings with aplomb. “Okay! Do you have any suggestions where you’d like to go?!”
Her voice was most certainly not squeaking, and she was very much not flustered by the eyes of strangers turning to them in passing as they very loudly coughed over a bucket of chicken now ignored at their feet.
Oh kami. She screwed up. She screwed up so bad. Sylvia could practically feel a searing blush slowly make its way to her face, roses slowly developing on her cheeks as she fantasized about going back in time by five seconds and strangling herself before she let that sentence out. This was why she wanted help from Ember! She was useless in social situations! She just humiliated Roche to the best of her ability without as much as thinking about it. But now she had no choice but to power through. Somehow.
“Ummm… errr… sorry.. Umm. Umm! Do you have… a kitchen?” she ended up asking after a brief pause, trying to force herself to look at Roche. Which was not happening. The butterflies were back in full force again, fluttering and laughing through her whole body any time she tried to meet the other girl’s eyes.
“Oh! That’s what you….Never mind.” Shaking herself Roche put an arm around Sylvia’s shoulder to help steady her, since the girl might have been under the weather with all her poor balance and hacking coughs.
“I do have a kitchen, but it’s not what you’d call well stocked. I can work a rice cooker but I don’t exactly have fresh veggies in the fridge.” Roche said, slowly leading them off in the direction of her place. She shot Sylvia worried looks, hoping she didn’t keel over or need her to transform and carry her off quickly.
The roses crept further up Sylvia’s cheeks as Roche reached out to her, the Rulekeeper’s fingers wrapping around her shoulder in a gesture that she had not felt… well, ever, if she was being honest with herself. She did not even find herself flinching away from the touch as she should have, because it felt… nice? Yes. It felt nice. She may not have known the other Dark Magical Girl for too long, but they have spent time together just… not like this. She did not know it could be nice like this.
She did not need the support. At all. But instead of informing Roche about it to save the other Dark Magical Girl the effort, Sylvia found herself leaning into the touch so she could feel more of it, starting to understand what Hotaru meant by missing out on hugs. But those would be too forward in this situation, would they not be? Even this gesture might be inappropriate if she thought about it too much.
Trying to distract herself, Sylvia went for her purse, pulling out a five-thousand yen note.
“I umm… I think this should help,” she said awkwardly. “I uhh… er. I am not… the best at it.” Swallow. Breathe. Try to think of how to phrase it. “But it would be better…?”
Roche outwardly projected calm as Sylvia handed her the note but internally she screamed out in despair as she had no idea what to even use it on. She’d been living off instant meals, one-step recipes, and petty theft for so long she didn’t have the foggiest idea what she’d be cooking.
No, she couldn’t just say that. Sylvia barely looked to be holding herself together, so Roche had to remain firmly grounded and support her. It was her responsibility to keep every member of the Club together, even in the most unconventional of situations.
“S-Since you’re paying, you can pick the recipe and we’ll do it together!” Roche blurted out with false confidence, passing the onus of responsibility for the shopping to Sylvia while still holding the veneer of being decisive.
“Teriyaki Chicken,” answered Sylvia almost instantly as for once, Ember helped her out with a recipe that was simple, relatively quick, did not have too many ingredients and had little preparation. Thus, she could not screw it up too badly, having never cooked before. It would likely taste similar to what she had just a few minutes prior due to how utterly useless she was - even if Ember tried to convince her otherwise.
“Err.. uhhh. If you’re… okay with that.”
“Sure, that sounds great!” Is what Roche said aloud, but she’d never cooked Teriyaki Chicken before. Was it complex? Did it take a lot of time? She might have descended into alarmed worrying if she didn’t think to pull out her phone and search for a recipe. To her relief it proved simple in its ingredients and not all that labor intensive.
She kept the recipe open in hand as they turned into a grocers and found her arm naturally slipping from Sylvia’s shoulder as they entered the more publicly packed place. “Here, you carry the basket while I grab the stuff. We’ll be in and out in no time.”
It was quick going from there. The shopping went by in a blitz and before Sylvia realised it, she stood in front of a stove, trying her best not to show just how nervous she was cooking for the first time. What if she left it on for too long? What if she left it on for too little? Tasting it was forbidden - she was cooking it for both of them so she did not want to contaminate it. It did look ready in a few minutes, but was it really?
In an inspired moment, she took a fork to check one of the meat slices for consistency and sure enough, it was. Letting out a sigh of relief, Sylvia moved the pan, toggled the heat, then she fetched the plates for the two of them, meticulously arranging the table without even noticing she did so. Not that there was much to arrange given how sparse Roche’s apartment proved itself to be, but even so, there were soon two tastefully measured servings of food on the track club star’s table.
“Er… umm… if it’s bad, you don’t have… have to eat it,” spoke Sylvia as she did her best to avoid Roche’s gaze. Try as she might, she knew there was no way she could have replicated how Ember did the dish with her years of experience. It was likely she burnt it to a crisp or messed something up but… No, she followed all the steps correctly, didn’t she? Surely, she could not mess up something this simple, could she?
Roche could scarcely remember the last time she ate at a dining table with another person. Even meals at School were more club affairs than anything else, and Roche stared down at the meal they’d prepared together with no small measure of wonder. She’d missed the warmth of it, the expectation of a home taken for granted in her youth, and with it’s absence she’d given up hope of feeling it again.
Unbidden, Roche chuckled softly, the noise soon lost as she blew on the chicken before taking it into her mouth. Sylvia’s cooking had been spot on and the moisture of the chicken had not been driven out of the bird. “You know, I think I under seasoned it, but it’s still a great meal. Can’t even recall the last time I had something like this. Thanks for this, Sylvia.”
The track captain looked across at her fellow Magical Girl, a stark and heartfelt appreciation writ across her face before her eyes widened in recollection. “Oh, we never did circle back to it. Wasn’t there something you wanted to talk about in the first place?”
Sylvia straight up stared at Roche as she took a chopstick to the kitchen, her whole body rigid. Worried butterflies with razor-sharp wings took flight from her stomach once more, gliding across her insides to make it seem as though every movement of Roche’s balanced her death or her survival. She almost leaned forward, her fingers whitening as the morsel made it closer and closer to the Rulekeeper’s lips, inevitably swallowing it and praising it.
The protector almost collapsed from relief on the spot. Thank goodness! It would have been a disaster if she complained about food, then managed to make something that tasted horrible, like that half-Miseria abomination Suki had made. Weirdly enough, the smile on Roche’s face even made Sylvia feel… warm? Like one of those aforementioned butterflies landed on her heart, then spread its wings to envelop it.
Then it flew away in panic when Roche mentioned the topic.
“Errr… umm… I uhh… I forgot?” she half-asked, half-professed as she lied, knowing there was nothing she wanted to talk about in the first place. She had simply wanted to find some way of spending her time, after all.
“You forgot?”
The oddness of that response could shine through even the bliss of a mouthful of teriyaki, but after she swallowed her masticated meat Roche only shook her head with soft mirth. “I suppose we’ve both gone off on a tangent. I’d planned to still be running awhile longer, yet here we are. Since we’re here, let’s just enjoy the food. Maybe watch a movie while we digest before heading out for our nightly hunt?”
No sense fussing over things when Roche was feeling comfortable, a glow to her features oft absent as she turned her focus to enthusiastically chomping on chicken.
Sylvia’s explanation was accepted without question. Perhaps she had grown used to Ember’s sharp eyes or her grandfather’s unreasonable standards, but Sylvia had, deep down, expected more pushback on her lie, so she stood by the table for a second or two before her mind caught up to the facts and she took her well-deserved seat. Like Roche, she carefully sampled her teriyaki chicken - not as good as Ember made it, yet not bad - before she dug in with a smile on her face to mirror Roche’s.
“Do you usually watch movies?” She asked, all but happy to talk about something that Roche wanted to, her own list of topics painfully blank.
“I like to have something playing. Movies. Music. Cable television. At least when I’m home.” Roche answered, her expression dimming just a little before perking up. “At least at home. I’m not one of those who listen to music while jogging. Usually I just work all night with you all then school all day.”
Roche kept a busy schedule, and between school and two clubs she left herself very little in the way of downtime. Just the way she normally liked it. Even her idea of a vacation involved cooking herself alive on the beach.
“Got a DVD collection if you want to root around in the media chest.”
Sylvia nodded as she finished her meal, then started to root around the media chest to see if there was anything that caught her eye and - what the hell were those eye-searingly bright magical girls doing here out of all places? Curious, she browsed the box to lift the very first one and read the title out loud.
“Futari… wa… Pretty… Cure…? Err… Are these… light magical girls… in anime?” she asked about as awkwardly as she handled the box. It was… not unreasonable for someone to have these, especially as they all used to be light girls themselves, but the cutesy designs did not match the mental image she had of Roche. Then again, Roche could have changed from her transformation, just as Shuuko had.
The tanned girl winced and turned away, considering the appeal of the floor as Sylvia held up the embarrassing anime. “Look, it still had good action. And it’s not like I watch it anymore…”
Her denial was weak and she hurriedly came over, plucking it from the other girl’s hands and setting it aside. Pointedly out of sight.“Just don’t mention it to Suki and the others. Okay? I don’t think they’d let me live it down.”
“Err… I won’t judge?” Sylvia half-asked, half-promised as she watched Roche walk off with one of the DVDs out of the many. She must have been quite the fan back when she fought on the side of the light, Sylvia thought, failing to notice how her left hand bunched up into a fist as she tried to look for something else in the box. She had not even heard of these titles, never mind saw them and her other selves were of no help either as she tried to decide on something.
“You’re… umm. You’re very… dedicated. Dedicated to the detention club.” Oh Kami, kill her now. How could she sound so awkward when she tried to make conversation?!
“Of course I am.” Roche finished tucking away the DVD and turned back, expression bewildered by Sylvia’s declaration. Flattered too, but Roche brushed past that without a care and joined her at the media chest. “Schrade gave me this role and I take it as seriously as I do everything else I do. There’s no point in not putting in the effort.”
She leaned over, her hair brushing against the other girl’s before she reached in and pulled out one. “You a fan of Kurosawa? I’ve always liked Rashomon. May have seen it too many times, but I can’t tire of it. Though if you want something lighter I’m sure I’ve got Godzilla Final Wars in here somewhere…”
“Ummm… I haven’t seen any of these,” Sylvia confessed. She did not flinch away from Roche even as the other girl invaded her personal space, not even when their hair and shoulders touched. “It’s all foreign to me.” Had she ever seen a movie? No, she had not. Not with her own eyes at least. Those occasions were usually reserved for Chiaki so they could make her at least a little happier. So that there was no burden on those small shoulders and…
Sylvia shook her head.
“Is… is there something that’s… slow? If you don’t mind, of course!” she asked, not knowing how else to word her request.
Roche considered Sylvia’s request, finding it rather odd, but then again so were most of the Magical Girls in general. Still she didn’t think a Kaiju movie was slow, so she dug deeper to the foreign films they had on hand. “I think I have….aha!”
Pulled free from the stacks of cases was one she proudly held up, brushing by Sylvia as she came upon the DVD player and set it inside. Before the television was a kotatsu table and Roche came back , draping the blanket over her lap before patting the space beside her for Sylvia to share. “Okay, this is a musical called The Sound of Music. It’s kinda old but that just means the film style is more measured. So we can just enjoy the dancing and singing.”
It sounded good. Nodding with a small smile as she thought back on how they enjoyed a romantic movie with Chiaki at the centre, Sylvia slid into the kotatsu. Would this be similar to what she was used to? Back then, she never watched the screen with her own eyes, so it felt distant. A little bit hollow. But now she was the one fronting, with the others in the background, remaining silent so as not to “impose” on her time.
“R-ready when you are,” Sylvia said in the end, glancing over to Roche.
Noticing Sylvia seemed a bit tense, her hand reached out under the blanket, squeezing the other Magical Girl’s own softly. “Relax, Sylvia. It’s just a movie. If you don’t find yourself liking it, we can always stop and pick something else.”
Reassurance given the hand settled against the floor between them while it’s mirrored twin clutched the remote and set the movie to play. With a belly full of fresh food and company that wasn’t strictly required for club based activities, the track captain was feeling an energy she hadn’t enjoyed in a long time. A soft smile was playing upon her lips as she cast her attention upon the screen, lulled into a state of peace by Julie Child’s performance.
Sylvia startled when Roche reached out to her, but once again, made no move to get the other girl out of her personal space. She did not even notice it too much, the touch barely a background noise to her as the movie started up. Like she had asked, it was a slow one and also a touching one, exactly what they usually went for with Chiaki. Now seeing it on her own was an entirely different beast altogether, the emotions much more vivid.
Maria caring for the children hit her straight in the chest. The Captain’s strict discipline along with his sometimes harsh words hit even further home, and soon, Sylvia felt what the actors felt and - quietly, under her breath, so as not to disturb Roche’s enjoyment - she hummed along to the musical numbers. Of course, she knew it was only fiction, a tale of make-believe on the screen but still… She swore she could have touched the actors some times.
The longer the movie went on, the more comfortable she became. Relaxing minute by minute, Sylvia did not even realise that she unconsciously closed the distance between them, ending up side-by-side with Roche when the movie finished, turning to the side with a measured smile on her face-
And going red as soon as she realised she had almost brushed her lips with Roche’s cheeks.
The movie had proven a good choice, shockingly so, as it was easy to see Sylvia was enthralled with it to a degree Roche found magical to watch. She stole glances throughout the performance, failing to grasp just how close they’d gotten as time flew by amidst pleasing tunes.
As the family made their flight upon the alps and the credits came to roll she turned to see Sylvia’s reaction at the same time she had as well. A near glance of the cheek turned to a meeting of lips, passing along one another before their noses met and Roche’s head snapped back, blushing clear and bright through her own tanned complexion.
“S-S-Sorry!”The track captain stammered, a hand shooting up to her own lips while the other disappeared into her lap under the covers. Her composure cracked while her thoughts betrayed her, circling back to one word. ‘Soft!’
Mt. Sylvia got buried beneath a swarm of riotous ladybugs as she realised what happened. Their lips had brushed. Their. Lips. Had. Brushed.
Her stomach tangled. A knot built up there, wrapping around the food she swallowed, sprawling deep inside her and dragging her down. At the same time, she felt something light, like a balloon or an eagle taking flight, making majestic circles, followed by a jolt travelling her whole being. Her hands bunched up, accidentally taking hold of Roche’s before she let go as though she had grabbed a rod of white-hot iron.
Thumping filled her ears. What was it? It came from her chest. Her heartbeat. It went a mile a minute. A shiver. She averted her eyes towards the floor.
“S-s-sorry,” she repeated back to Roche, dropping her shoulders as she felt the weight start to crawl up from her belly. [color=teal]“I… umm… er… I-I g-got way t-too close.”
Surprise colored her features as she found herself staring at their joined hands, Sylvia holding on with a strength that jolted Roche from her stupor before seeing Sylvia withdraw just as quickly.
“No!” The words came fast, her haste lending them force before logic could constrain her. “You don’t need to apologize. It….you…felt nice. I was just startled….”
“P-P-please don’t apologise! I-I’m responsible f-for that,” Sylvia responded immediately without thinking about it, even though using her brain would have served her a thousand times better. “I-I-I j-just g-got t-too comfortable! I-I-It’s m-my f-fault I g-got so close!”
“I-I said I liked it!” When pressed Roche fell back on instinct, acting boldly and running forward at her problem. Naturally that was not the most tactful, but it had her reaching out and clutching Sylvia’s wrist firmly.
“You did nothing wrong. Please don’t be upset.”
Sylvia froze in the spot, her hairs standing on end when Roche grabbed her. Much like a rabbit in front of an eagle, she all but turned into a lifeless salt statue. Even her breathing ceased for a second or two, her eyes widening to their extremes, then she jerked backwards and shielded her face with her free hand. Her shoulders dropped as she huddled for a moment, then when nothing followed save for an apology, she lowered her hand.
“S-sorry,” she apologised again. “I uhh… I-It’s okay. You startled me.” Except, if Roche had two working eyes, she could see that the colour rushed out of Sylvia’s face, a rather stark contrast to how embarrassed she had been just a moment before.
The sudden change in Sylvia’s manners was unusual, but it proved difficult to appreciate when the girl had suddenly jerked away in seeming fear of Roche. Hurt plunged like a blade between her ribs and the track captain released her hold on Sylvia, thinking she’d hurt the girl just like Suki always pretended would happen.
But after everything she’d gone through, and seeing the looks of disgust and rejection even the amorous Magical Girl of the Detention Club gave her, seeing such flagrant repulsion to Roche sickened her to her core. Feeling of fluttering emotion suddenly had leaden wings, sinking to the bottom of her gullet like a weight upon her neck. She hadn’t planned for anything to happen, it wasn’t even a thought in her mind, yet such a desperate and depraved soul such as Roche had all but leapt at the chance.
Coming out from under the kotatsu she curled her knees up beneath her chin, both arms wrapping tightly around them. Her mind was spiralling, negativity so palpable you’d think a Miseria was set to manifest around her.
A little puff of air escaped Sylvia’s lips when Roche let go. Tension she had not even known she had been holding in uncoiled from her and she closed her eyes to center herself, running through a series of all-too-familiar mental exercises. What seemed to be a comforting silence fell upon the room, so when she opened her eyes, she fully expected to see a somewhat confused or concerned comrade-in-arms waiting for her. Fate had other plans.
“R-r-roche?!” She scrambled towards her companion immediately. She seemed to be breathing, but why was she hugging her legs? Did Sylvia hurt Roche? “D-did I hurt you? Are you injured?” Did she drag her hand away too quickly? Could she have somehow sprained Roche’s wrist? What had she done, what had she done?! A cold, unfeeling rock slowly blossomed inside her chest, crawling up into her throat as she tried to figure it out.
Roche’s eyes widened like dinner plates as Sylvia came upon her, rousing her from funk in a whirlwind of worry. She’d thought Sylvia was taking a minute to word her rejection, or to simply muster the nerve to walk away without a word. Instead the girl had gone from stone-faced to fretful with concerning speed.
“I’m fine. I just thought you were…..repulsed by me.” Her voice had withdrawn, a tiny thing without power or bite, and while her eyes dimmed from the manic orbs they were she had not loosened from her tight ball either. “It’s okay. Everyone is. Suki. Nyxia. Every new girl we seem to meet just wants to kick our asses and burn down our homes.”
“Well, they're welcome to mine, because it’s just me here. Not even Schrade visited when she was around more often!”Her laugh was bitter, and her nails sank into the meat of her calves with an intense grip. “You’re the first person, and I go and make it all awkward…”
Roche’s reply struck right in the chest, causing the metaphorical rock to ring out like a gavel as Sylvia lost her words. Opening her mouth several times, she found that whatever she wanted to say would either come across as trite, unhelpful, ignorant or all three at once. Clumsy phrases repeated themselves in her head, more hollow than an empty cauldron or the feeling left behind by Roche’s words.
She sounded as though something important had been carved out of her. Surgically removed. Perhaps destroyed, cracked into pieces like Shatterscape herself, broken beneath a weight she did not even know she carried. Of course, Sylvia was not so observant as to recognise it, so most of the analysis came from Ember as she stepped forward to help her at last.
“I won’t put words in your mouth, Sylvi,” spoke Ember, “Trust me, you won’t learn without stumbling.” She flashed a sorrowful smile. “But do talk to her. Look her in the eyes. Tell her you’re also awkward. Tell her what you think. Touch her so she knows that she wasn’t the problem.”
Following the advice, Sylvia gently took hold of Roche’s shoulder and lowered her head to line up with Roche’s eyes.
“Umm… I’m… I’m also awkward. But… I don’t think that’s bad…?” That was terrible. She could not have put her foot into her mouth harder if she tried.
But for all that Sylvia was uncertain, hesitant, and entirely out of her element, her efforts bore fruit. The bite of her nails lessened as she met the other girl’s eyes. Not because she looked to her on her own, but because Sylvia came to her. Was touching her of her own volition.
It was a fragile thing, but the warmth even came through her windbreaker.
“Maybe. Maybe we’re both awkward.” Roche wasn’t smiling, but she wasn’t pulling away or shaking from hypertension. The terror was passing and slowly she let her legs splay outwards, stretching the nerves loose. “Shuuko, would you want to do this again?”
Even Roche didn’t quite know if she meant the meal, the movie, or the awkward contact.
“I think so. I… I liked cooking with you, Roche.” A small, awkward smile lit up Sylvia’s face as she responded to the Rulekeeper. “Would you like me to come over and help you again? Or just watch a movie?” She did not want to impose after all, and it seemed to her like the track team’s captain also enjoyed the meal with her. More importantly, though, something about preparing the meal put her at ease, so she wanted to repeat it. The movie was also enjoyable.
Roche’s head bobbed and her focus finally settled upon the present, grounding herself in the moment stretching out between them. It proved a near thing, but ultimately it was Sylvia’s words that pulled her through.
“I liked it…And maybe we can try your house too.” Roche’s head turned askance as she put the prospect out there, naturally coming to rest on the digital display of a clock and finding her eyes widen noticing the late hour. “Oh, we should probably head out if we want some Miseria for ourselves. Feel like hunting together?”
“Sure!” The smile became just a little bit less awkward when Sylvia responded. “I’ll just have to tell Kiyo.” She reached for her phone, not even noticing that she held her shoulders a little more firmly than before. Her chest did not feel nearly as heavy, nor was she trying to think of how to give her time to the others. No, instead a previously unknown feeling took root in the protector’s heart: She looked forward to the next time she got her turn.
