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[protegge]

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

( text | voice | video | action )

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[protegge]

[THIS IS TERRIFYING]

who wants to




oh its you
uh just in the quad why

LMFLKSJDLKSJD

[parfaitgirl]

ok just stay there

[ she's gonna jog off to go find him. SORRY FOR BEING TERRIFYING MISTA ]

[protegge]

[ ]

[honestly, he considers running. but he is just very stressed looking where he is sat cross legged under this tree. when she approaches, he puts his pad of paper and pen away.]

[suspicious.]

Uh, what's up? [please no bulli]

[parfaitgirl]

[ ALL THE BULLY.

No, actually, she looks rather pleased as she approaches, with two hands behind her back. She brings one hand forward to display ... Parfait Girls, Volume 1! ]

Look!

[ She's so earnestly excited. ]

[protegge]

[The ! is almost visible popping up over his head.]

Yo! It's the thing — it's the thing!

[Genius.]

Where'd you get it?

[parfaitgirl]

[ It is, in fact, The Thing. She crouches down next to where he's sitting. ]

I got it for doing that initiation test thing.

But now you can read it! [ She holds it out for him to take. ]

[protegge]

[He, like, lurches out of his sitting position to yoink it out of her hands. Prize!]

That's so cool! That's awesome.

[And he proceeds to open it from the back, like an idiot Westerner.]

[? ? ?]

[parfaitgirl]

[ She scowls a little when she sees how he takes it from her. ]

Careful! If you bend it or crease any of the pages, you'll be sorry.

[ She takes it back from him, CAREFULLY, and turns it around the right way. ]

You have to read it right to left.

[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.]