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npc contact.1
As the game progresses, different npc faculty and students will become available for threading. To request a thread, please comment below with the name of the npc and the ic date in the subject header. Threads may be cut short due to mod availability, so please have a reason in mind for the interaction.
got so lost in the sauce of liz spouting the bee movie that i forgot about gettinganother npc thread
HIRO.
He's happy to go snooping for him at lunch, but he's hoping he doesn't have to snoop too far, and that Hiro is happily and luckily located by an open window, because Natsume's not that great with the summer heat, and the AC being nonexistent might kill him before anything else in this school does. That'd be disappointing. )
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HIRO is not by an open window, regardless of which classroom Natsume checks, because open windows invite bugs and Hiro cannot stand them. Instead, he can be found in the home economics room at lunch time, sitting on the ground in front of the freezer clutching a bag of semi-frozen peas to his chest. ]
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Natsume'll go sit by him, look at his bag of semi-frozen peas, and look at the freezer. )
Good morNING. ( it isn't morning, but don't worry about it. ) Is there a SPARE, or did you take the only ONE?
( #priorities )
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He's going to stand up and grab himself a fresh bag. ]
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Natsume... will accept the used bag, but not before putting it against the back of Hiro's legs, like an asshole. )
Have you been practicing your magic cirCLES, or has the counselor discouraged you from pursuing the dark ARTS? ( ... uh, make this easy for him. ) You can just nod or shake your HEAD. I'll refrain from asking you any questions that might impose talking at length on YOU.
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Hiro starts when he feels the cold bag against his legs, but it's not as effective as if he'd been wearing shorts. Fine... okay. He shakes his head at the question before taking the bag from Natsume's hands and placing it in the front of the freezer so it can be first in line to be used up later, pulling out two different packages to offer Natsume: a frozen chunk of meat, and a frozen bag of shrimp.
Which does he want: Hope meat, or to smell fishy the rest of the day? ]
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Thank YOU. ( shame about the circles, but they're mostly for fun anyway. he'll resume making a magician out of hiro yet, just in fall, or something. magic weather. ) ...Do you have to go for much lonGER? The little bunny - Stephanie-chan - has been worried about you, you SEE. I'm not sure how you feel about HER, but she's the kind of child who considers most people she meets her friend -- naturally she's been conCERNED.
( ... )
As have I, ( bc theyre friends ) but I've been buSY. Sorry for THAT.
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Hearing Stephanie's name, though, he dips his head a little and the bag slips and he has to readjust it. His friend... Both Stephanie and Natsume, and isn't he too lucky to have both of them? It makes him a little nervous, even just acknowledging it.
He shakes his head, though, pausing to contemplate the best sign language for freedom would be, can't find one, and decides to just leave it as a head shake and a tap on his chest. He doesn't have to go every day anymore, just when he wants to. Which is never again. ]
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well. almost doesn't. )
What were you in FOR? ( ...this is not a yes or no question, so he'll revise it: ) Did it have something to do with Seki-kun?
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Not the way I'd take care of THINGS, but it seems like the rules of this school prefer less neat opTIONS. ( says the boy who made a bomb i guess. ) You two stopped showing up at school around the same TIME, and only you've returned -- so far -- so I figured as MUCH.
( natsume turns his gaze downward, playing with his hope meat before he presses it against his cheek. bliss, if he doesn't think too hard about it. )
I made a promise not to think badly of you regardless of your acTIONS, and while the requester and I may or may not be on good terms right now -- something I am not exactly keen on tesTING, to be frank -- I still WON'T. ( a little exhale, not entirely sure if he's telling the truth himself, or if he's lying to the both of them. people hurt each other all the time in the world, and he wasn't close to seki, useful as he had the potential to be. thinking about it when it isn't right in front of him, no body or news, makes it easier to feel like it's somewhere else entirely, disconnected.
maybe it's a little bit of the truth, and a little bit of a lie. the best drinks are mixers where you can't tell what they have in them. ) You twins are diffiCULT, but you aren't terrible peoPLE.
( good people do unforgivable things too. )
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Hiro looks back at Natsume with a similar sort of curiosity, less trying to figure Natsume out as a person but more that he's not understanding his reasons— why a promise should override opinion, what would excuse a murderer from being terrible.
It's easier to accept than to question, though. This holds the same for Natsume as it does his sister.
He holds up two fingers, then points at Natsume. ?? Either Hiro never got the memo that Maya is mad at Natsume, or Maya is always mad at Natsume and Hiro couldn't tell things were any different. ]
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he looks a little put-off for a second, then frustrated, then tired-neutral )
So she didn't tell you I slighted HER? How NICE, though that speaks wonders for how she acts about me normalLY. ( she never seems happy to see him, which isn't that bothersome, except maybe slightly. ) DiffiCULT, but not terriBLE... Your sister is very SWEET. The worst she does to me is try to break my TOES, which wouldn't deter me from flagging her down if I wanted to talk to HER.
( ... )
I lied the first time you and I TALKED. Maya-chan and I aren't FRIENDS.
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He reaches for Natsume's hand but draws back before he touches him, reconsidering and holding his own hand out instead. ]
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Natsume's brow furrows as Hiro makes it, and it stays that way a moment longer when he meets his eyes. Trust... )
...I wanted to earn yours easiLY. That's the only reason I said she and I were already FRIENDS.
( He curls his fingers over the invisible mark slightly, pursing his lips. A soft exhale, through his nose. Natsume doesn't like it, but he's different than he was two years ago - he doesn't like thinking about what and who exactly changed him like this.
So, softer: ) And by being friends with YOU, I hoped to become better friends with HER. She seems like she knows someTHING, and I thought she'd might be more willing to part with information if we were cloSER.
( He twitches his fingers, then reverses his and Hiro's hands so he can write the "trust" symbol on Hiro's palm this time, cradling his hope meat cooling pad against his shoulder. )
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It makes him feel numb, that he can't even appreciate Natsume's honesty, or what it means that he's admitting this to him. The hand that Natsume takes is limp, with no effort to hold it up so that when Natsume finishes tracing out that symbol he had held so close to his heart and lets go, his hand drops to his side.
Head bowed, he can feel the tears prick and well from behind his eyes, but he won't let them fall. If he doesn't blink, if he stares hard at the ground and doesn't blink, they won't fall and he's not crying. ]
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Natsume reaches for Hiro's hand again — his wrist, actually. Despite it being closer to Hiro, it feels less intimate a gesture. )
...I'm having to apologize to both of YOU. ( And Natsume doesn't like apologies - he doesn't like having to admit when he's wrong - but a magician is meant to guide others to happiness, and he's fully aware he hasn't done either of them that service. He can already feel the scolding he'd be getting if any of his seniors were here— ) Neither of you have to accept my apoloGIES, but I do mean THEM.
( Natsume lets the hope meat slide off onto the ground, nary a flinch when it fwumps there, and lets Hiro's wrist go — he scoots back some, but he isn't leaving; he's just giving Hiro space. )
I want to start oVER, ( quiet, ) and become good friends with YOU, Hiro-kun. Maya-chan, too. Not for informaTION, but because I... like talking to you TWO.
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Knees to his chest, head to his knees, he stares sideways at Natsume, at that hand that had taken his wrist and then left it feeling cold once he let go. He opens his mouth to speak, but there is no sound, just lips forming the word "Why?" not knowing if Natsume even sees. Talking with Hiro in particular is an ordeal, he knows that, he knows that he isn't interesting, that he can't offer anything, that he wouldn't be a good friend. He can see Maya and Natsume getting along, though. Two bold people with strong opinions. She probably already knew his intentions, right from the start, and warned him not to get in too deep with Natsume Sakasaki. He should have listened to her. But he was lonely, and he yearned for a friend... still does. ]
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Because I want to BE.
( He lets that hang in the air for a moment, simple, before he continues: )
You're more interesting than you KNOW, Hiro-kun. From the short chats we've HAD, I've been able to gain that MUCH... and you're one of the few boys around here that don't make me want to tear my hair OUT. I don't usually get along with my yearmates ( gee, wonder why ) but you've been an excepTION.
You remind me, ( he says after a momentary pause, ) of mySELF. The difference is you learned how to make friends properLY, and I was the result of a union by a megalomaniac and a woman used to always getting her WAY.
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It's hard to imagine, though, Natsume being anything like him, let alone that claim that Hiro knows how to make friends, when the two he has— had— has, had to be forced on him and stated as such.
He never knew how to make friends. He never thought saying it makes it so. But maybe it starts with him taking Natsume's hand and holding it tight, and letting it grow. ]
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...All of that is a secret between you and me, got IT? I have a reputation as someone who's good with peoPLE. ( which obviously does not correlate with Making Friends, but he gets along well enough and he's sociable when he feels like it. ) I'd also like it if you didn't tell Maya-chan. I know twins share almost everyTHING, but I'm trying to get back into her good graCES, or what little I was in prior to my misSTEP. I doubt upsetting you would help my CASE.
( ... )
Does she have a favorite food or something I can offer as an olive BRANCH.
( this is all he had to ask but he had a feelings jam instead. the essence of enstars actually )
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Hiro nods, then shuffles a bit closer, shifting so he's on his knees instead of sitting back so he can lean forward and bring his mouth close to Natsume's ears, a whisper only for him: ]
But she'll know that I told you.
[ Favorite food or not, she wouldn't be happy with that, Hiro thinks. An olive branch would look like a bribe, and she's too proud. Anything Hiro tells him, anything Natsume just magically happens to know the next time he talks to Maya, she's going to suspect— but he knows enough already. He knows she's not just the student council president, that's not all she is. ]
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Still though, doesn't he feel special — maybe a little, and he sighs as if this is truly the worst thing in the world. It isn't, but Wataru's dramatics have rubbed off on him in the past year. )
You're RIGHT, and I wouldn't want you to get in trouBLE. ( Or give her more reasons to distrust him... but it isn't like she completely distrusts him anyway, right? Natsume sets that aside to consider later. He's doing that a lot lately, not just with her. ) ...I'll think of someTHING.
( Lemon cookies. Perfume. Origami flowers. A bomb. A free punch. Acting like nothing happened. A folding fan, for the heat. )
Or maybe noTHING. ( Hmmmmm. Well. Quieter, not looking at Hiro but at the hope meat, he's going to pick it back up while he simply says: ) ...Thank YOU.
( For agreeing to try again? For talking to him? For the help? Thank you all the same. )
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