2024-06-20: If We're Going To Stay In Kamogawa For A While
- Cast: Muginami, Madoka Kyouno
- Where: Kamogawa, Japan
- Date: U.C. 0099 06 20
- Summary: Muginami's sure fire plan to avoid any suspicion: just arrive as a mysterious and elusive transfer student! ...Please be patient, it's not a cliche on her home planet.
<Pose Tracker> Muginami has posed.
The first place Muginami went after arriving in Kamogawa was the Uomizuka Lookout - the monument overlooking the seaside city, wind sweeping through her hair, as she tried to understand this place. Walking up the mountain trails to this vantage point, Muginami's expression grew stern on her own, hands on the railing to mentally map it out.
...An old habit, thinking of places like these as targets to take something important from, first and foremost. This place was way too peaceful to have anything that ought to be valuable...even though peace was a treasure in and of itself.
The sound of laughter behind Muginami stiffens her back muscles invisibly. A couple just a bit older than Muginami, with a lock in hand - together, they latched the little metal bauble onto a grate at the monument's side.
...A custom Muginami didn't quite understand. But, she decides - if it's something that gives them joy, maybe she'd learn something about it, if she spends long enough here...
The smile returns to her expression. Something to wear whenever there's company. Even if all she'll do is walk away...
-- -- -- -- --
Getting entry to Kamogawa Girls' High was almost too easy. Smile at the faculty, clap your hands together and confess that it's just a short-term arrangement during travels overseas, and make nice-sounding platitude-like promises, and it's all too easy to get your foot in the door! Really, it's pleasant that everyone here on Earth is so courteous and accomodating - and Muginami's spring in her step is light and airy as she makes her way to the classroom.
The one she made sure had Madoka Kyouno in it.
As soon as she opened the door, the homeroom teacher, Miss Machiko as they all called her, turned and brightened. "Ah! Here we go. Everyone, this is our new exchange student. Muginami-"
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Muginami!~", cheers Muginami.
"She's going to be staying here for a while. Seems like this is on short notice, so don't mind that she doesn't have a school uniform..." Machiko does gaze a little quizzically at Muginami's...undeniably foreign mode of dress, wondering to herself - is she just that out of touch with fashion these days...?
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Muginami!~", cheers Muginami, again.
"Well, you can go take a seat wherever you like, Muginami-" Machiko starts, but Muginami's already begun marching towards her destination.
Right towards the back of the class. Right next to the girl she came this way for.
...But she doesn't let herself look too determined. No - at a glance, Muginami's surely off in her own little world merrily meandering towards her seat...
<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kyouno has posed.
Madoka was, as usual, doing her best. The active life of a girl who devoted herself to helping everyone, the posters recruiting for the Jersey Club littered throughout the school. Not too much as to be an eyesore, but there's one that could be spotted wherever there was a permissible space for a club to advertise themselves. Advice, help, general labor, with the end goal of assistance and nothing more.
And in a state of rarity, she was in her school uniform today. Fiddling with a bang before paying attention proper, watching the door open and- "...Oh?"
Indeed, yes, yes, yes, her memory banks were already being scavenged. The lightest frown of trying to remember where exactly she saw her before, failing to place face to person. Muginami. Muginami. Why did that sound familiar...?
But still, the school is lax...So she could hear Nogami concur. The script was readable. Mu. Gi. Na. Mi. Yes, she's Muginami.
The fact that Muginami approached with such a stride failed to enter her mind, only perking up from her mental train of thought as the oncming girl approached.
"Haa..." Well, good to see that she's able to choose a seat before Machiko set her into places unknown. "...Uh...Have we met before?" Her gaze is filled with the gaze of someone trying to piece together a memory that didn't really imprint in their mind, but was completely important right now.
<Pose Tracker> Muginami has posed.
A faint little kicking of legs comes once Muginami takes a seat. She has absolutely nothing on her - no pencils, no books, not even a bag to hold them in. (But it'd be criminal if a coat that fluffy lacked pockets, right?)
Only once she's addressed does Muginami turn to give Madoka that bright, winning smile of hers.
5T"It's nice to meet you, I'm Muginami!~", cheers Muginami, a third time.
"Have we met before? Hmm hmm. That's an odd thing to ask! I'm new to the area, so I'd be surprised if we'd ever met!~ Don't tell me someone who looked like me wandered into your dreams, right, Madoka?"
She remembers herself, of course. That oh so fortunate meeting at Sheryl's concert. Important faces don't slip past Muginami easily - all of them become useful in their own time.
"Say, since I have only just gotten here...would you mind helping me find my way around how this school works? It's very different from the ones I'm used to." It's pretty clear just looking at her that Muginami's not from anywhere around here - but isn't Kamo Girls just kind of an ordinary enough school...?
"I made my way here hearing someone say something wonderful about Kamogawa on my journeys, so I'm hoping it lives up to the expectations! It's certainly quite peaceful so far." Muginami dreamily buries her cheeks in her hands - refraining from staring too directly at Madoka. She's always in the corner of her eye, though...
<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kyouno has posed.
Madoka takes note of that quickly; Its one thing to not have anything on you and to have spots at school where you store your belongings. It's another to be completely new about it all, but considering the circumstances, it's hard to really carry the lack of things against her. Everywhere's moving, everyone's been shifting, there's people shifting along the border to and from Area 11...
Granted, she's had her own school uniform stolen once. She can't exactly outline herself as a Paragon of Normal Habits. Yes, it's Muginami.
"No, I don't think anyone invented dream-invasion technology..." Had she dreamnt about someone like her? There's a few people she did dream of, but not her...The face of self-scrutinization pops up. "Maybe someone in Jupiter?" The junkers around that area!? It's a hail mary.
Still, the deconfirmation does bring a sigh from the soul. "...?" Her name? It should be nothing.
"Ah, you're new to the area? Don't worry, we can see about what to do for textbooks and everything afterwards." Ordinary school or not, there's no malice or judgement in those eyes. It's hard to consider things as 'normal' when every year seems to bring some upheaval across the border. "If you need, we can hit up the teacher's lounge afterwards." An offer of assistance for afterschool. That should help Muginami!
"...On your....huh?" The face of apuzzled girl trying to piece together the 'short notice exchange student' slice and the 'on my journeys' slice. ...There must be something more she isn't getting. Oh well! "That's good, though. Kamogawa's a great place, mhm!" A nod of affirmation, a bright smile offered to the new exchange before offering her hand.
A simple handshake. "Welcome to Kamogawa, Muginami."
Still, there were classes to go through.........
<Pose Tracker> Muginami has posed.
A warm sigh escapes Muginami's lips the moment Muginami's welcomed properly. Dreamy and cheerful about the bright invitation-
And actually a release of tension. There's no way someone like this is genuinely dangerous - genuinely on her guard. She might've been wrong about this girl, potentially-
But if she is, at least she'll have pleasant company while sorting out her mistakes.
"If dream invasion technology hasn't been invented yet...then I want to meet whoever's working on it! It'd be fun to meet the people you're close to even in your dreams. After all - doesn't it get a little lonely, once you know what dreams really are? For a while, whenever you sleep -" Muginami shuts her eyes, as if feeling the need to demonstrate how 'sleep' looks - "Then you can't see the people you care about!"
The idea of a "teachers lounge" is new to Muginami. Really, a school is in its entirety. Everything she learned, she had to get taught in person. So even in all her cautious gesturing, the headtilt on Muginami's part is genuine. "What exactly are we gonna find in a teacher's lounge, Madoka? ...It sounds like a place meant for teachers, yknow...!"
<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kyouno has posed.
Madoka's keen enough to note that tension. To watch as the shoulders slump, the entire...'feeling' of Muginami's body language subtly change. Was she that walled up about a new school? Don't worry, don't worry! You'll be fine, Muginami! Really!
"Eeeeeh, you think so? I don't think anyone's found out what dreams really are. I don't particularly dream due to how tired I get." An absentminded shrug mentally wondering. Dreams. Like, actual physical dreams? It'd be nice to have one every once in a while.
"They're going to be there when I wake up." ...The line is said with a hint of pining.
"Eh? Ah- It's where they work when they're not..." A gesture up ahead; Machiko, for all her faults, was forging ahead on her lesson plans after around ten seconds of staring at the duo. Homeroom time had to be taken to accomodate Muginami's sudden entrance! "When they're not teaching. On the job." A blink and a cup of her own chin. "It should be the same around here...Where are you from? We can start from there."
<Pose Tracker> Muginami has posed.
The tiniest fall in Muginami's lips from Madoka's wistfulness...she can't help but say, "If you work so hard that you don't sleep soundly enough for any dreams...don't you think you should take it a little easier?" She's careful not to talk over Miss Machiko's lesson - though she keeps an ear open for just what they're teaching here. Combat arts? Survival schools? ...No...it's a literature lesson? Muginami's picked up the local languages fast (there's so many in the Polyhedron, after all, that anyone who gets around can probably pick up how to have a conversation within a week for any foreign dialect!), but advanced literature is a little beyond her ken just now...
Heel digging into the leg of her chair, Muginami taps a finger to her lips, and HMMMMMs a little over-theatrically. "It's a place you probably wouldn't have heard of, really. One of those little pockets that's stuck at war." She's picked up enough to learn that Earth's far from totally peaceful... "Being able to relax a little more here in Kamogawa is a breath of fresh air. Though even here, there's military installations lurking, like that creepy looking thing off the coast."
-She's already gotten the reports from the rest of the Rebellion about the raid on Pharos the other day - and that one of them even wound up getting captured. That's what has the worry on Muginami's face - and she can just pretend it's about the spooky weird floating skyscraper itself!
I don't understand that.
<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kyouno has posed.
"You think so? I thought sleeping deep meant no dreams..." That's a thought and a half! Said with such wonderment. "I don't think I could." To keep pushing along to help others was reward enough. The literature lesson is one that she listens in to; Talks about the thematics of old literature and the classics, discussing about hopw this particular author helped kickstart some genre or other before the Universal Calendar was codified. There's no mention about any sort of combat, unless one stretched the definition of Britannian High-Class Societal Politics to be as such.
"Ah, really?" ...The angle of approach at someone from a war zone was key, huh. Shift away from where they're from. Maneuver to the relief of the location they made it to, instead. There's no easy telling of what they think about their homeland. "I hope that fresh air spreads about, you know? A glance out the window, towards the shimmering seas, the bright blue sky, the minute glints of ships sprouting to and from the very tip top of the far off Orbital Elevator, and the massive vessel off the coastline.
"...Mhm. I don't think there's a place on Earth that doesn't have something militarized nearby." A tap of the chin. Best not to dwell on it. "They're with the groups up in Tokyo-3- Ah, we're not too far from Tokyo, but there's...Two? Three? Four?" Nouvelle, Tokyo-3...Wait, was Tokyo in general both Tokyos? A third one? The minor stumbling block of a mind fully revving near-always.
"Ah, but they're here on good terms. Trust me, I've had to help some of them get used to the area." Some people just need to know where to find the right stores for the right things, or the right people for the right quick repairs of the abandoned mobile suits in the outskirts, where the farmers plied their craft.
<Pose Tracker> Muginami has posed.
-So Madoka confesses to at least having some involvement. But, of course - hardly anything damning. That could describe any helpful local, obviously. Muginami thinks this girl is certainly somewhat earnest - but then...
Well, wouldn't people ideally describe Muginami the same way?
Still - at a bare minimum, Muginami knows for a fact that Pharos is Le Garite's embassy, and she now knows Madoka has contact with some of them. No matter what - a useful target.
...and she can confirm her other suspicion as soon as that package arrives.
...All the while Muginami's considering this, she does mime trying to focus on Machiko's lesson, furrowing her brow at troublesome sentences, quietly drumming her fingers on the desk, idly chiming in, "Four Tokyos...? Sounds like a complicated place! I only knew the one when I was passing through...thank goodness I didn't get lost, hehe~ ...You really are a kind-hearted girl, to help even out those miliary guys, aren't you?~"
Behind the fluffy tone of voice, Muginami locks up all the venom she can for the enemies who'd ruin everything she had.
...It seems like an eternity before the bell rings, sounding lunch period, and Muginami can't wait to stretch upwards from her seat. Rather aerobic and rigorous a little stretching routine while standing here, to boot. "Aaaah, it was real hard to follow along all that, I'm sorry! Is that the bell that means we all leave?"
...It is the bell that sounds the unpacking of lunchboxes, and - as fate would have it - a noise emanates from Muginami's stomach right then and there. She can't help but cup her own cheek in faint embarrassment...
You are empty-handed.
<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kyouno has posed.
Madoka blinks with the eyes of complete obliviousness. She's helping a transfer student get acqauinted to her town after moving out from a warzone (level of war TBD). She's listening in, sure, but her eyes flick over every so often at Mugi; Checking that she's not frustrated, settling in more of less, mentally ascribing checklists for this and that to check out after school and fit around her schedule. Strokes of luck...She'll have to check her planner soon.
The thoughts of being an agent of Pharos, of NERV, of being involved in any sort of interplanetary incident is summed as thus: 'I wonder how Lan's doing right now'.
"At least we don't have to deal with Kyoto. I can't imagine how the old guard has to deal with the changes." Ah, the old capital, the new, the buildup of the past few centuries, the multiple changes in the past century, the codification of the Universal Century...Everyday was a day for the history books if one looked for it. "Of course. They're not from the area, save for one or two. But even the old-timers didn't know about the new spots." Time changed everything.
Of course she'd help them out.
"Mmmmhhhh..." Just a stretch of the back to work those muscles up again. Let's see, let's see, time... "Not to leave, but it's lunchtime. A period in-between, then a few more classes until we're free." Reaching into her desk, the distinct clatter of a few things before pulling a recent magazine out. It's a magazine intended for tourists; Recently published, too. "Here, you'll want this."
Magazine offered, it was time...To think about food! There's a smile at Muginami's stomach growl, her own lips creasing to a grin. "Hungry? The cafeteria's offering some good stuff today. Let me just check..." Reaching into her skirt pocket, pulling out the hand-size planner and opening it.
She's not trying to hide all the writing there is inside it. 'Pharos', 'NERV', 'Vox', 'Ovid', 'Array???', 'Kamogawa', 'Jersey Club', 'Youko visit', and other such words arrayed haphazardly, a code that was born out of necessity...due to how many things were on the schedule. "I'll need to talk with a few people, but nothing urgent..."
The acclimation of a transfer student to the days of Kamogawa had only begun.
<Pose Tracker> Muginami has posed.
"A cafeteria...we can just go there and have food?" Muginami's eyes sparkle a little. "Things really are too kind here, ehehe~ Say, if you're not too busy-?"
Her eyes glance to that not-all-that-hidden agenda, trying to catch as much of it as she can in a single glance. Reading the language is a little tough...that definitely says "Ovid" the way they would here, though - that's not a word she should know.
(She doesn't quite catch "Vox", given it's written a little awkwardly here. "Wacusu"?)
"...Well, that's a tall order. But I was wondering if you'd want to go with me to eat? Sharing food with new friends is always something I like to do~"
As she suggests this, Muginami starts opening up the travel magazine, trying to draw attention away from Madoka's planner - and starts pointing out all sorts of places on nearly each page.
"Ah, that place looks amazing!"> at the hilltop monument she already went to.
"Wow, do they really have festivals like this on the beach?"> hosted a time of year she's not sure she'll still get to be here.
"That cafe by the docks looks really cute, doesn't it!?"> ...that one, Muginami does actually want to go to...
The corners of her eyes fall the longer she goes on. Wouldn't it be nice, if it could really be acclimating to a life like this...?
For now...
She'll take what joy she can get from it all.