ic inbox ( balance )

[protegge]

[the chorus of blondie's CALL ME, sung extremely poorly but with great enthusiasm]

( text | voice | video | action )

Comments

[protegge]

[He yelps like a startled puppy at her reprimand. Sad confused stare. Natsuki why.]

Right to left . . . ?

[After a moment of pouting, he opens it from the back with exaggerated care.]

This is weird. [Although, after turning a couple pages, he points excitedly.] Hey, that's the girl! The one with your hair thing!

[parfaitgirl]

That's how you read Japanese, so that's how it's published. It'd be weirder if they flipped it left to right, 'cause then all the pictures would be backwards from how they were drawn originally.

[ And she smiles a little when he recognizes the hair accessory. ] Yeah. That's Alice. She's pretty cool, but that one -- [ She sets down the other mystery box she's carrying behind her back in order to point to another character, Minori, who's currently being introduced by tripping all over herself and landing flat on her face ] --is my favorite character.

[protegge]

Oh.

[He literally didn't know this, I'm sorry Natsuki. He beckons her close and gestures for her to sit instead of hover over him and, in doing so, misses the box for the moment. For Now.]

That one? What's her name? What's she do?

[parfaitgirl]

Her name's Minori.

[ You can just tell by her voice that this is something she loves talking about, that she wishes she could talk to more people about but hasn't had anyone who'd listen -- so she can't seem to shut up about it now that the gates have been opened. ]

She's really unlucky, so she's always tripping -- see? -- and running into stuff and just generally attracting all kinds of misfortune. It's really funny. There's even this part where she --

[ She cuts off. ]

Well, I guess that's kind of a spoiler. Anyways, you should see for yourself! It's funnier that way, anyways. [ She gestures to the book, indicating he should keep reading ]

[protegge]

[He nods. He definitely does see her tripping. She sure is doing that.]

Okay, okay. I'm goin'.

[He wants to anyway! It does take him a minute, genuinely, to get the hang of reading this way, but after a while he does get it down, after which there's no stopping him. After a while, he starts keeping a count out loud of Minori tripping over and/or running into stuff. It's a bunch.]

[parfaitgirl]

[ IT IS A LOT. Generally, though, the comic is pretty much just about four ordinary high school girls. They seem to bake a lot, and they all have crushes on different boys. It's Very Exciting.

As Mista reads, now that he's let her sit next to him, she's reading along with him, and even snickering a little at the funniest parts. At one point, she even says out loud, with a laugh: ]

Oh, man. I forgot about this part! It's been awhile since I re-read ...

[protegge]

[Guess who has been so fascinated by the dumb romances? This idiot. He's so into it! Romance is great.]

Oh yeah? I always rewatch my favorite movie like. I dunno. Once a month or something.

[parfaitgirl]

Well, I've just been busy I guess.

[ Writing poems and getting ready for the festival, and all!

The fact that he's still reading this and seems into it makes her curious, so: ]

What's your favorite movie?

[protegge]

Mine?

[oh boyo]

It's called Pretty Woman. You ever heard of it? It's about this real cutthroat corporate guy who hires a call girl to pretend to be his girlfriend for a week, except she's way smarter than him in pretty much every way. They don't get each other at all at first, but then they fall in love and end up kind of saving each other. It's incredible.

[He is . . . very fond and misty-eyed when he describes this dumb movie. It really holds a special place in his heart, because he's a dweeb.]

[parfaitgirl]

[ ... She has never heard of this movie because she is a computer program, but she listens intently. ]

No, I haven't heard of it, but ... Somehow, I'm not really surprised that that's your favorite movie?

[protegge]

You're not?

[He gives her kind of a confused look? But a pleased one.]

Most people are. [But then again, most people he's told in the past are probably surprised because their first impression of him was him like. Shooting a guy in the face.]

[parfaitgirl]

You just seem like you would really enjoy being in that scenario.

[ LMFAO ]

And it sounds really cheesy, and you're kind of a dork, so.

[ She shrugs, as though this is immutable fact and she can't do anything about it. ]

[protegge]

Wow.

[He doesn't even put that much effort into sounding offended, though. Like, he knows she's right.]

I dunno, I just like love stories. What's wrong with that? [Intense stare. Nothing, Natsuki, there are love stories in your manga too! Haha! Hahaha!]

[parfaitgirl]

[ Ugh. She blushes a little when he stares at her, looking away. ]

There's nothing wrong with that part of it.

[protegge]

Yeah, so!

[He turns back to the book with a satisfied grin.]

We both have awesome taste.

[parfaitgirl]

[ Grumble, grumble. Yeah sure, she'll let you have that one, Mista. Just keep reading! ]

Well, if you think that's great, then you're definitely gonna like this more.

[protegge]

More than Pretty Woman?

[Big talk. Still, he definitely is gonna keep reading! He's actually very hooked in the story and won't stop unless she tells him to. He's perfectly content to read the whole volume through, with occasional color commentary.]

[parfaitgirl]

Look, there's nothing wrong with movies like that. But you already know from the start that they're going to get together. This will definitely keep you guessing.

[ And she's content enough to just read along with him, so she won't be telling him to stop anytime soon. ]

[protegge]

[He . . . has no rebuttal for her statement regarding predictability. He will develop one as soon as she leaves, probably. For the moment, he continues reading.]

[It’s pretty comfortable, anyway. And a huge relief after Wonderland to just chill out and read for a while with a cool mean gal. They get to the end sooner than he expected, and he closes it with mixed feelings.]

That was really good. But I wanna know what happens next. [:///]

[parfaitgirl]

[ Natsuki grins. ]

Well, the good news is that there's fourteen more books, and I have all of them.

[ FOURTEEN. DAMN. But she pauses, suddenly looking surprised. ]

Wow, we finished the whole thing ... I guess I lost track of time.

[protegge]

What, seriously?

[NICE... he grins.]

I mean, yeah. It was good, so I didn't wanna stop.

[parfaitgirl]

That's how I feel, too! Once I start re-reading it's hard to stop.

[ Unless Monika is there to interrupt you, of course. She takes the book back and looks at it fondly for a moment, before her face lights up as she remembers something. ]

Oh, right ... There was something else, too.

[ She reaches behind her to produce the box she had hidden behind her back with the book. It's a small pink box, and inside there's a cupcake: dark chocolate, with picturesque strawberry icing. On top of the icing, there's some long, thin strips of strawberry jam drawn in a "grid" that matches the pattern on his dumb hat. Don't worry, Sayori probably made sure that there were more than 4 lines drawn on it. ]

[protegge]

[Mista takes the box, and opens it, and.]

[Okay, here's the thing: it actually takes a second for him to recognize that it's a cupcake. It's way more decorated than the cupcakes he usually eats, which are shoved directly into his mouth without a second thought. So he considers it for a moment or two before his eyes go wide and he looks up at Natsuki like a child who's just been told about Santa for the first time.]

Wait. Did you make this?

[GURL]

[parfaitgirl]

[ She's watching his reaction carefully, and when he looks up to ask the question, she draws back, a little embarrassed. ]

... Y-yeah? So what?

[ He seems excited, but ... ]

[protegge]

. . . That's so cool!

[He is holding this dumb cupcake box like it is the holy grail. He wants to eat it but also it's got his hat pattern on it! What the fuck!]

How'd you make it look like my hat?