2022-01-10 - Efficient Expowhatsit

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Efficient Expowhatsit

Summary: Ami's first few days as an English Tutor causes her to make an unexpected new friend.



Who: Ami, Stocking, Yue Shanti
When: January 11th, 2022
Where: Kohoku Public Academy


Ami-icon.gifStocking-icon.gifYue Shanti-icon.gif

The information contained within this log is to be considered information gained Out of Character (OOC).
This information may not be used as In Character (IC) knowledge or in roleplay unless it has been learned in-game or permission has been granted by the parties involved.

Questions should be directed to staff.


Kohoku Public Academy - Courtyard(#4427RV)

Sitting behind a large brick wall with an equally large iron gate is the grounds of the Kohoku Public Academy. The school itself is a three story affair with a large clock visible on the side near the roof. Between the gate and the doors of the school is a long walkway with cherry trees planted in regular intervals on both sides. In between them are a series of benches which usually have a student or two studying away during the daylight hours. At night the courtyard is lit by bright floodlights. In the distance one can make out the school's track from here.


Obvious to the world, students come and go at the end of the day. Most of are only noteworthy in their own orbits, but two little satellites are orbiting closely as they make their way back towards the entrance of the school.

"Stoooooockiiiiiiing!! You haven't been around in months! Where have you been!? Where's Panty?"

Stocking, the annoyed purple and pink haired girl in the gothic dress rolls her eyes at the long haired blonde chasing behind her in the school's uniform. She turns around and rather spitefully growls, "Go away, you ditzy airhead! Can't you see that I'm busy?"

The airhead's mood deflates as she drops back a step or two, her eyes already filling with tears, "But we were study partners, remember? We're supposed to do that project in science together..."

Stocking lets out a roar of frustration, balling her hands into fists, "You were just using me to play video games! I don't care about your stupid project! FUCK OFF, YUE! YOU FUCKING LITTLE TWAT!!" Turning she slams the doors of the academy open and marches inside, leaving Yue standing in her wake, tears always flowing as she chews on the cuffs of one of her sleaves.

"...what did I do?"


Only marginally less oblivious to the world than the students is the new english tutor, Mizuno Ami, who somehow just happened to show up at exactly the time the school staff needed her help the most. It being Mabase, outlandish rumors swirled about the mysterious circumstances of her hiring, and the fact that she might be an angel (or a demon!) sent to keep an eye on the chosen one. The chosen one, of course, invariably being the person telling the rumor. The *truth* of her hiring, that Kohoku put out a help-wanted ad and she responded, is much less exciting, and generally not well-regarded amongst the students.

As she walks out the doors that were so helpfully opened for her, Ami is about to thank whatever soul kept her from having to lift her eyes from her stack of assessment work, when she has to artfully step to one side to avoid being bowled over by a striped gothic lolita. The motion is smooth, even graceful considering she's in a pencil skirt and heels, but the top sheet from her stack flies off into the air, and she ends up stumbling a bit chasing after it and out the doors.

"Oh! Oh my. Now you wait just a minute!" Ami catches herself, lurches after the paper, and it dances on the air, just past the reach of her fingertips. This little performance continues for several more steps until she has to stop herself in order to keep from dropping the rest of the papers, and she just watches the sheet slowly drift towards the ground with a sinking expression and a sigh. Well, we can't all be winners. At least it didn't fall in a fountain or anything.

The bluenette carefully walks over to the step the paper has come to rest on, and kneels down to pick it up. She gives an exaggerated sigh, the shoulders of her high-collared white button-up rolling just a bit. The light glints off a rather lovely sapphire cameo tucked in between the folds of her collar, and she returns the paper to the stack. Seemingly by chance, this leads to her now being eye-level with a crying blonde girl when she looks across her stack of papers to see what's on the other side.

"Ah! Sorry. I didn't see you there." Heartbeat. Two heartbeats. "Are you alright?"


Once Ami comes stumbling through the doors to avoid Stocking, Yue puts her hands over her eyes as if to prevent her from seeing the disaster she imagines. It takes a moment before Ami's comment registers leaving her to slowly wipe her eyes on her sleeve and blink as she's asked if she's alright. A heartbeat? Two heartbeats? oO(Why is my heart beating so loudly?)

It's about then that the full weight of the question occurs to her and she swallows hard. "You're so pretty." Well, that surely won't be taken out of context. Three, two, one...

"OHMYGOSHI'MSOSORRYIDIDN'TMEANITLIKETHAT!!" She flails dramatically at that point a moment before 'composing' herself with a shake of her head. That also means more waterworks. "S-she just got all mad at me and I don't know why, she was supposed to be my study partner and now she's being so meeeeeaaaaaaaaaaan!!" The phrase 'mean' of course being drawn out into a full on whiiiiiiine. Sorry Ami. It's going to be one of those days.


Yue's comment causes Ami to blink once in surprise, but then the flailing and the shouting starts and her face takes on a look of patience than most would say could only appear on the face of a parent. Ami has no children, but a brief lifetime dealing with Usagi has left her with more patience than most humans could even dream of. "It's alright." With small shake of her head and a smile, the tutor persists, "It's alright now. That's over and done with." If only it were ever that simple.

Shifting her arms so that she can rest the papers against one, she offers her other hand out to Yue. "I'm Mizuno Ami." Oh, she knows who you are. You're the faerie who uses her job to kidnap children.

...

Or was it the secret government spy sent to keep an eye out for promising youth to brainwash?

...

...

Alien space princess?


Everything is fine until her name is spoken aloud. Already Yue's hand is reaching for the offered one and she's sniffling back tears - but then. Her eyes go as wide as saucers and she takes a half-step back. "M-mizuno Ami!" Her eyes take on a distance look somewhere between recognition and fear. "Y-you..." Images and stories flash through her thoughts. People in black suits driving black cars and abducting children. Beams of light coming from the skies. The ending to the movie Akira. "...y-you're..." One can almost see the images dancing both in her mind and across her eyes. Mad scientists. Giant, pulsating, living brains. Excel in a wig posing dramatically. "...a TEACHER!"

Yes. That's what she takes from all of that. The young girl seems ready to jump on a chair and scream about mice like a 60's housewife in an old sitcom. "But you're.... so..... COOL." Right. That's where we're going with this apparently. "I-I mean-! Uh. C-Can I help you with those papers?"


"I... am?" Ami's question could really be a confused admission to being a tutor, a request for clarification that she is, in fact, cool, or some strange mixing of the two. Perhaps a confused admission to being cool, and a request for clarification that she is, in fact, a teacher? The world may never know. "I mean." She clears her throat a bit. "I am. A tutor, technically." Oh, I guess the world knows now.

She smiles with a slight blush on her cheeks for being called cool, she's not *completely* mature yet. And then Yue offers to help with her papers, and that smile broadens. "Why thank you, I think I might have bitten off a bit more..." As she takes a small portion of the papers off the stack to hand to Yue, her eyes glass over a little. "Than I..." Memories return unbidden to her head, of Usagi 'helping her' carry her books, and the poor girl dropping them and throwing them every which way. She doesn't seem to get this understanding in time to stop her hand from offering, though. "...can chew."

Oh boy.


Yep. Not nearly enough time as Yue dramatically snatches the papers out of her hand, holding them triumphantly. "No problem Miss Mizuno-chaaaaan!" She pauses and blinks at her own words. "No, that doesn't sound right." She ponders heavily this huge dilemma as she tries to establish what is and isn't appropriate in this instance. "Stocking says I shouldn't call people -chan." Her voice lowers conspiratorially, "She says it makes me a weeb." Standing up straight once again Yue tries to situation the papers better. Already some look ready to fly away. "I don't know what a weeb is, but I'm sure it's bad." Crunch. Oh, yes. She's got a death grip on them this time. You just wait. "Miss Mizuno? Do you know what a weeb is? My parents tell me some words don't 'translate' well, whatever that means." Crunch. "OH! Where are we going?! I bet you have a super cool car or something, right? A giant red sports car with shiny chrome bits..." The girl's eyes glaze over as she begins to fantasize, the papers becoming more crumbled in the process. "I bet it's pretty like you are. When I get older that's what I'm going to do. Get the fastest, shiniest car I can find." Shuffle. "OH! Or find a really handsome man who can drive me everywhere - THEN I DON'T HAVE TO LEARN TO DRIVE!!"


Further flashbacks hit Ami in the face at Yue's form of address, and like anyone who has PTSD, severe brain trauma, or who's standing in line at the post office, her eyes glass over again.

"Ami-Chaaaaan! Come here, come see! Ami-Chaaaaan!"

The blue-haired woman shakes herself out of it in time to realize what she has done. Oh, those poor papers. She stands fully, and begins walking towards her car at a brisk clip, hoping that she can perhaps salvage the pages using advanced, computer-aided deformation models once she gets them home.

Crunch.

The hope is dwindling by the second, however. So she moves a bit faster than someone in heels should reasonably be able to stride without falling - it's actually quite impressive - for a human anyway.

"It's a derogatory term for someone who likes Japanese culture more than is, perhaps, healthy." Ami shakes her head to one side to get the hair out of her eyes, and continues on. "We just call them Otaku in Japan." She's about to elaborate further, and then thinks better of it. "And most people here actually speak different languages, but something in Twisted makes it so that everyone understands what everyone else is saying." With some margins for error. "I haven't figured out how it works yet, so for now I call it the law of efficient exposition's convenient conversation corollary." What?

The bluenette approaches the end of the steps in her power walk, coming off them and towards the bit where the walkway turns into a gateway, and the gateway turns into a roundabout for parents to pick up their children. There's an open spot in the roundabout, right in between a tiny blue hatchback and a green chevy bel-air. Ami lifts up her car fob and... a shiny red lamborghini literally drives itself into the opening spot, perfectly parallel parking itself and lifting up its side-swivel doors with a hiss of steam to reveal no driver inside.

Holy shit.

Is that her car?

Ami blinks and presses the unlock button on her keyfob, and the lights on the blue hatchback blink twice to indicate it's unlocked.

Oh. Well. That's nice, too.


Crunch, crumble. "Law of efficient expowhat?" She's mostly muttering to herself as she listens. It's all gibbrish to her but it does wonders for putting Ami and a higher and higher pedestal. Belatedly she reacts to the definition she was given as it takes her this long to process it. "OHHH!! An otaku! That makes so much-I'M NOT AN OTAKU!!" CRUNCH, CRUMBLE. "The nerve of her! She's not my lab partner anymore! Why that makes me just want to-" Rrrriiii-"Oooooooooh." And the papers are momentarily saved by the distraction of Ami's Lamborghini. Back off, reality!

"THAT'S SO COOOOOL!!!!" The doors open on their own and everything! Wait, she's still looking at the Lamborghini. Shuffle. "OHMYGOSH How did it do that!?! You must be so rich!" Yue swoons from side to side as her gaze floats up to the sky watching visions of expensive dinners and fancy clothing dance through her mind.

"I bet you go to all kinds of fancy parties and mingle with all the well-to-dos." She half-offers the paper to Ami, half starts to throw them into the breeze. Be fast! "Wait, Miss Mizuno? Why do you work at this awful school when you're so smart and rich? Shouldn't you be working at some fancy university or that Medical Mechanica place? This is kinda the boonies, ain't it?"


Ami offers a small, knowing smile when Yue says she's not an Otaku, and says nothing to contradict the girl. The moment that Yue starts to release the papers, though, Ami moves fast, taking them somehow both speedily and without seeming like she's actually as desperate as she is to free them from the girl's very literal clutches.

"A hydraulic-lift scissor-door system with after-market steam-exhaust for visual effect would be my best guess." Good guess. "...But that's not my car." She moves past it to the tiny blue hatchback parked just in front of it, which is a very economical smart-car with a lovely light blue paint job with a hint of chrome sheen to the whole thing. But it's small. It could fit four - if two people sat in the trunk.

"...And I'm not rich." She's not going to deny being smart - she's not so humble as to be a liar. "...And they needed an English tutor, so I applied. In that order." She opens the door manually like sort of plebian and starts placing her papers into the trunk by way of the front door - that's how small the car is.

Behind them both, one of the school jocks with rich parents and several expulsions dives into the Lamborghini. "Later, Ms. M!" The words have barely left his mouth before the scissor doors close and the car somehow manages to leave the roundabout without hurting anybody.

"Goodbye, Flash," Ami calls out without looking, "And you be sure and..." VROOM. SCREECH VROOM. "...drive safely." She sighs, hanging her head for a moment before shaking it and coming back to her senses.

"Thank you for your help, Yue-San."


While not as enthused a reaction as the one to the fancy red car, Yue looks to the little hatchback and actively pets it like a puppy the second her hands are free. "Awwww, it's so cute and tiny. Who's a good car? You are!! Yes you are!!" Her smile falls just a little when her classmate speeds off. ".....jerk."

A beat later sees a flash of idea go off in her mind, "Wait, you're an English tutor!? Do you think you could teach me? My Dad says I have to learn it because one day I might have to be able to speak without that efficient expowhatsit and he won't give up. It's worse now that my stupid brother knows English and he's younger than me."

The girl crosses her arms and huffs, then slyly looks up at Ami again. oO(Plus you're so cool, maybe if I hang out with you I can be cool too...) "...even if you are a teacher." The girl's face explodes in a deep blush. "SORRY! SORRY!! That part was supposed to be in my head!! Eh-heh-heh-heh...." oO(Somebody kill me now!)


There's another, smaller smile from Ami when Yue immediately pivots from fawning over the lamborghini to befriending her hatchback in short order. There she is again. She's beginning to wonder if she should push a little, when Yue asks if she could render aid. Or the Usagi-equivalent of asking for help. Translation matrices aside, Ami speaks fluent Usagi.

"Of course I could. That's quite literally why I'm here." Very specifically, in Yue's case. She holds up a finger to her lips and offers a quick, playful wink. "To find the chosen one, I mean." Oh, she's heard. Very cute.


Yue slowly gaaaaasps, "YOU'RE Morpheus?" Is she serious? She looks serious. Then she starts giggling, "Sorry, Miss Mizuno." She ponders a moment and then giggles some more, "Whoops. I didn't introduce myself! It's a good thing you knew my name already." Did she? Maybe she just picked it up from the conversation with Stocking. "Dad says it's very important to show your manners." Sage nod. "Yue Tzui Shanti." ...and bow. "One day everyone's gonna know my name, even if I have to beat every video game in Mabase just so they see my initials on the high scores!" Another sage nod. She is very smart. This is a flawless plan.


"Well. I do own a very nice pair of sunglasses." Ami reaches into her car and clicks something near the roof, and a small sunglasses compartment slowly swings down. She pulls them out and puts them on to show off stylishly. They're dark blue with gold frames, because of course they are. But obviously Morpheus, this does not make her.

When Yue reveals that she caught Ami's flub with her name, the bluenette blinks once. But then it's already done. Perception check, passed, sense motive check, failed. Whew. "Ah,your father is right about that. Politeness and courtesy will get you far." Not so far here as Japan, but still. "And it's a lovely name. I'm sure everyone will think so."

Ami has a (probably near-accurate) vision of the first time, halfway through her master plan mind, that Yue discovers the high scores reset upon power outage, and can't help but giggle a little.


Yue scoffs at the giggle, "It's a good plan! Don't you laugh at me! Being the best at video games is only my first choice, anyways." She flashes a V with her fingers, "My SECOND choice is to be a super hero." She withdraws again at that declaration and lets out a sigh. "...everyone laughs at me when I tell them that 'cause I get scared too easily. That's why it's not my first choice." Sure, just keep spilling your life story out to this poor woman who's obviously trying to leave and go home. Maybe we can keep her here longer?! "But I want to help everyone." She glances up at an odd whistling sound in the air in time to watch a Pizza Cat fly by. "Or maybe I can deliver pizzas! Wait, I'd have to learn to drive again for that."

*whiiiiiiiiiiiiiine*

"Growing up is haaaaard. Why can't we just stay young and irresponsible forever?" She lets out a huff and kicks some dirt with her shoe. "Life isn't fair."


Ami's giggle winds down as Yue tells her that becoming a superhero is only her *second* choice, and she tilts her head to one side in amusement. "Growing up can be hard, but it can also be magical and transformative." Play that card, go for it, Ami. "I'm sure a polite and sweet girl like you will make plenty of good friends and have a great time getting to know yourself and others." Ami finishes making sure her papers are stacked properly and takes a deep breath. "Now. Are you going to be late for class? We can't have that."

Ami of all people knows better than to think Yue is a punctual person.


Yue let's out an exaggerated pfffff of dismissal and shakes her head. "Nope! I was just trying to find out what Stocking was doing when I saw her walking towards the school on my way out." She pushes up both her sleaves to show she means business, "The Academy can't trick me into going in there if I don't have to! The only thing I have to watch out for is..." The girl's eyes go wide as she hurriedly pulls out her phone and sweatdrops at the time. "OH NOOO!! They said if I don't get home on time tonight I have to sleep on the porch again!" Again? "I have to gooo!! It was nice meeting you!!" She's already starting to run and still calling out loudly at the same time. "I'll try to come by later for lessons!!" Well, that's now decided. Enjoy that, Ami.


On the porch? Again? Ami sweatdrops as Yue runs off and opens her mouth, as if to stop the girl from relying on her own footpower to get her home on time, but then closes it again and shakes her head. She's got a hard enough time ahead of her without having a chauffeur to lean on as a crutch.

"Take care, Yue-san. Matta ne..." Ami waves after her, feeling not-so-oddly nostalgic. "...Some things still never change."



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