plague upon the world (it's these two gremlins)

[suddenlybees]

WHO: Ellie, Kano, and you~
WHERE: Lumière dorms, around campus
WHEN: first week of school
WHAT: crickets!!!
WARNINGS: crickets... nothing else foreseen, but will edit if necessary!
NOTES: this is a joint post with Ellie and Kano, so you might be tagged back by either of them or both, please let us know if you have a preference!

i. Lumière Dormitory lobby
[ Twenty centimeters isn't a lot. The length of the box's edge just barely exceeds the length of Kano's palm as he carries his package into the dorms, giving it a little shake next to his ear but unable to hear anything inside. The box is pretty light, too... maybe they got scammed?

The only way to find out is to open the box, and Ellie's right there to stab her switchblade into the top of the box and pull down sharply to cut open the box—-

Do you know how many crickets fit inside a 20x20x20 cm box? Originally, around 500.

Now, there's only a couple dozen left, and dwindling every passing second the two of them stare at the plague they've unleashed upon the dorm. ]

ii. cricket wrangling, inside and around the dorm
[ You learn to stop screaming real quick when every time you open your mouth, you find a cricket or two inside, so it's masks on and sleeves pushed up like this isn't shady at all, haha, this isn't their fault. Anyways, stand there, right there, and DON'T. MOVE. Just stay still while the two of them... well, it's no butterfly net, but they've got fly swatters and two socks full of crickets that they can tie off when they're full and— ]

I SAID DON'T MOVE!!

[ If you get smacked in the face, you've already gotten fair warning, now take off your socks and make yourself useful. ]

iii. on the waaaaay other side of campus
[ They pretend they have nothing to do with the fact that an exterminator is being called to exorcise the dorms. They have nothing to do with that? They've been here the entire time, camped out in front of one of the buildings with their little stall— a table dragged out from somewhere, two folding chairs, a sign leaning against the front of the table reading:

€1 EACH
IF YOU TOUCH IT, YOU BUY IT
IF IT TOUCHES YOU, YOU BUY IT
NO REFUNDS
ALL PROCEEDS GO TO THE 7 SEVENS

[ and a megaphone that's a mistake to allow in Kano's hands as he shouts right into it. ]

Crepes! Get your crepes here~! Chocolate clusters and liquid luck! There's a surprise in every bite! Purchase one of each and receive a complimentary ~*~*mystery box*~*~! What a deal! Don't pass this chance up!!

[ The ~*~*~mystery boxes*~*~ are packed up nice and neat on one end of the table, with the rest of it being a spread of little chocolate drops on a tray (they twitch once in a while, but ignore that), several dozen bottles of something dark brown (the liquid sloshes around once in a while, but ignore that), and Ellie currently taking her turn at working the crepe station, once in a while sprinkling in some of the """secret ingredient""" (some of which might escape and leap onto your face and chirp, but iGNORE THAT) ]

wc.
[ For anything else, ping northpaws or birdseed! ]

Comments

[playitagain]

[Nana laughs.] Well... they can be if you're not careful. I'd want to make sure my pan's good for it. Egg is hard to clean up.

[She blinks, though; she has to consider that.]

I never thought of using crayons for that... did you and Ellie use it for all of that?

[suddenlybees]

Nope~ Crayons are pretty hard to come by, surprisingly!

[ Once you leave elementary school, it's all colored pencils are markers— both are great to have around fire and see if they burn, but having wax to melt is sure something else. ]

Candles are fun to make, though, and super useful~ You can have fire all around your room and it's safe! Amazing!!

[playitagain]

[Nana thinks about it, then sighs:] Yeah, you'd have to ask the elementary age classes for them...

[Maybe she shouldn't give Kano ideas.]

Candles are nice! And they smell good--well, they can... I imagine you can't make a scented candle out of crayon.

[suddenlybees]

[ The next day, all the elementary schoolers are in tears because somebody broke into all the classrooms and stole their art supplies. ]

Haha~ They smell like crayon! Kinda gross, but sort of nostalgic, too! Were you thinking banana scented candles or something? They're very strongly sweet, so it might work!

[playitagain]

Hee, I can imagine. [Nana laughs. She blinks, a second later, though, and then:]

I was thinking banana-scented! How did you guess?

[yes seriously]

[suddenlybees]

A lucky guess~! I was right, huh? I'm glad! Knowing likes and dislikes is proof I've gotten to know you better!!

[ Even though anybody would know after spending five seconds around Nana. It's proof and he'll take it!! ]

[playitagain]

[Nana laughs again, but covers her giggle with her mouth. She's still polite to a fault sometimes.]

It's true! A year and a half now.

[She looks back up at him, head tilted; she has a question, clearly.]

Hey, Kano-san...

[suddenlybees]

[ A year and a half!! That's exactly half the time he's been here, and the latter half definitely went better than him than the first half, much of which was spent knowing nothing and trusting nobody and more or less keeping to himself until he was able to find a place for himself and march to the beat of his own drum. Talking like this with anybody else other than Minako or Ellie, he never would have imagined it. ]

Yeah? What's up? What is it?

[playitagain]

[It's nice. People've come and gone; some of the ones who left were Nana's friends, and it began to sink in: they're training for something dangerous, that not all of them could handle. Having someone like him, and Yuya, and the others...

It's nice.]

You grew up with Ellie and Minako, right?

[suddenlybees]

I did! I've known both of them for a long time~

[ And he's really really glad to have them back; honestly, if they weren't here, he probably wouldn't have stayed in this school for much longer either, with plans to pick up and move back to America- to find the orphanage destroyed and neither girl to be found, it would have been a mess. ]

What is it? All of Minako's embarrassing secrets? Are you curious?

[playitagain]

Oh, no, no! Not that I'm not curious, but I don't want to embarrass her.

[Nana smiles, even as she glances down at the floor, thoughtfully. She leans back against the wall, and arms folded thoughtfully.]

...It's nice to have the context, though. To know a little bit more about you -- and them. We almost never really see where people came from, here.

[suddenlybees]

[ There are secrets, but they're ones Kano keeps between himself and Minako, even after seeing Nana cave a little- curiosity is just that sort of beast, especially in regards to somebody you like and want to know better. ]

Haha~ That's the sort of stuff you can ask any time, so I won't steal Minako's thunder! We played a lot as kids, is all~ We were tiny, tiny children, and we grew up like siblings! So, you understand? If I spill Minako's secrets, I'll get clobbered!

[ That sort of siblings. ]

[playitagain]

Hee hee... I'll be sure to keep it in mind.

[Nana laughs, though; she looks up, then nods. Like siblings. It makes sense, from what she's seen when they interact in the dorm room. And that Minako would, in fact, clobber Kano for talking about her and spilling her secrets.

Maybe it would go vice versa.]

I bet you were happy when they came. I don't have a sibling, but... I can only imagine how much of a relief it was when they showed up!

[suddenlybees]

Hmm, well...

[ Yes and no. Mostly no, because coming here meant they had to train up to face the Nightfall, it meant becoming soldiers and it meant having all that burden and responsibility be on their shoulders. It meant purposely putting them in danger so they can grow and become stronger, and it meant he couldn't be sure they were safe anymore.

But selfishly, yes. ]

Mmhmm~ I'm glad they're here! It would've been super lonely if I couldn't see them again!

[playitagain]

[Things Nana knows the feeling of.

She smiles, a little, though. Because she can imagine how that would feel. Being lonely is the worst. She doesn't like that feeling.]

Mm-hm. I'm glad for you, too. And for them.

If you do have pictures from when you were all little, though, I want to see them someday.

[suddenlybees]

Hmm~ Pictures of me, I don't really like them, but maybe Minako's kept some around... I'll have to burn them.

[ A JOKE.

but also, Minako does have that, right... or she will, if she hasn't unpacked it yet, that picture of the three of them with missing teeth that'd sit on her bedside table, one of their pride and joys growing up because there's so few things that the three of them really shared with one another. ]

[playitagain]

[Nana giggles and then gives him a look. He better not burn them!

She's not seen the picture yet, but she looks a little delighted at the idea. (It seems so cute, all of them together.) Nana leans back against the wall with a sigh.]

Well, I'll ask her some time. It's only fair~

[suddenlybees]

[ Their punkass teeth picture... Minako and Ellie were really cute in them, but Kano had looked pretty roughed up, as was the norm back then, so he's quick to jump topics. ]

"Only fair," huh? Are you showing her pictures too? I want to see, I want to see~ The ones she shows you will have me in them, so it's only fair to me too!

[playitagain]

[Nana blinks a couple of times, and then she cracks a smile -- and her head shakes, once.]

Well... I could! If you want to see some pictures, though, I actually have some on my phone.

["Some" is not a fair description of how many photos she has.]

[suddenlybees]

I do~ I want to see them! I bet you were super cute as a kid, huh? Kids are like that, they're cute!

[ And then they grow up to be all sorts, but that's why he likes pictures of people when they're younger, simpler and more innocent times. ]

[playitagain]

Aaaah, I'm not sure if I'd say I was super cute...

[She laughs, though, and then pulls her phone out. She flips through a few pictures.] Most of what I have is only about two or three years old, at most. But I can show you those?

It's a lot of theater stuff.

[suddenlybees]

You're super cute now, so there's no way you weren't as a kid~

[ Even though it's theater stuff, and he's imagining makeup and costumes and all sorts of things that'd make a person unrecognizable, he leans in close so he can have full view of the screen. ]

[playitagain]

[Yep, Nana flusters for a second at the compliment. She stops on a picture, though: it's Nana, about two years ago -- so she's not quite as tall -- with a bunch of other kids. She's still, probably, the tallest one in the picture.

And she is wearing a long black cape, a vest, a white shirt, and has a sword buckled at her side. And she's smiling.

And has fangs.]

I was Dracula in this play. [She nods, proudly.]

[suddenlybees]

Heh~ How cool! You even have a cape and everything!

[ Despite the vampires in the school, he still mostly only knows the Draculas of film and storybooks, so he can easily accept the smile. Nana without a smile would be weird, like Kano without a smile. Though his can get sort of... you know... ]

"I vant to suck your bloooood!"

Did you get to use that line and everything?

[playitagain]

Mm-hm! I didn't know about real vampires, back then, but...

[She laughs, though, then shakes her head.] Not quite. More like--

[Then, Nana hops to her feet, because when you're going to perform, you need to do the movements and the lines. And she's smiling, but it's different. She uses her height to look imposing -- and her expression shifts, to have an imperious and slightly menacing look.

And she has a clenched fist raised in front of her.]

It is no laughing matter! We Draculs have a right to be proud! What devil or witch was ever so great as Attila, whose blood flows in these veins?! Blood... [She laughs, in a darker tone than usual.] ...is too precious a thing in these times.

Ah, but... The warlike days are over. The victories of my great race are but a tale to be told. [Nana unclenches her fist, then throws some invisible object to the side, before she hangs her head and sighs, the smile leaving her face.]

I fear that I am the last of my kind.