Waking Up
October 14 - Sunday morning
Tetsu’s first thoughts on waking were, in more or less this order - “Sunlight. Morning. Girl.. there’s a girl in my bed. But I’m not in my bed, I’m on the floor - and she’s on the floor. How did we get here?”
Tetsu wasn’t the sharpest when he first awoke.
“Oh - right - Rin. Isn’t she supposed to be in my bed?”
He looked down at the top of her head; her face obscured by her hair. Her closeness made unseen gears turn over in his brain - he could feel serious turbulence in the night sky over his emotional landscape.
“Hm. Definitely an emotion arriving, well, it’s here, but I won’t know what it is until it announces itself. Feels like a big one; all can do is be patient - I’ll know about it when it’s ready for me to.”
Tetsu characterized his relationship with his emotions as a landscape seen from above on a cloudy moon-lit night. Every so often the clouds would part and the moonlight would illuminate the terrain below, making the emotions clear. Usually, however - as now - the clouds remained resolutely unbroken, albeit riled with a disturbance from underneath. He’d learned that he had to wait - that the clouds would part eventually and he’d deal with whatever trouble they brought then, and not before.
In the meantime, here was a girl; ‘the’ girl, singular, almost unique - eponymous. He was fairly sure his brain had decided he’d encountered no one else quite so ‘girl’ - ever. Like seeing a rainbow for the first time - the colours arrayed so bright and pure as to make one feel they’d never actually seen true colours before.
“Maybe that’s the disturbance - the shock of recognizing something new? That’s big, isn’t it?”
“Do you like to watch girls sleeping?” Rin asked, rolling over to look up to him and interrupting his rambling internal monologue.
“Oh shit - she probably thinks I’m a pervert. I guess I didn’t need Rin as a friend after all,” thought Tetsu - his heart sank, mortification written plainly on his face.
“Why the sour face?” Asked Rin. “Boys - strong, but fragile,” she thought “Such a contradiction. Maybe this is what makes them so intriguing,” Rin mused silently.
Tetsu cursed his emotions for the umpteenth time - open for everyone to read but him. “She’s not upset - maybe I can save this,” he thought.
[ Sorry - awkward angle ] he said, sitting up. [ Good morning - why are you sleeping on the floor? ]
“Because you are.”
[ But I left the bed for you. ]
“Yes - but you’re here.”
[ OK ] Tetsu said eloquently. “She’s trying to tell me something .. not sure what it is,” he thought.
“Next time I sleep over, please don’t let me sleep with my bra on - it hurts in the morning.”
Tetsu considered the manifold implications of this request and just nodded. They stood up together and cleared the bedding off the floor.
“The cafeteria should be opening soon - you can make it up to me by buying me breakfast.”
[ .. OK ]
Rin looked demurely at Tetsu - “And Tetsu - thank you for, you know, last night.”
[ You’re welcome .. ] Tetsu started to sign.
Rin leaned into him gently, her head turned sideways and pressed against his chest.
“No.”
Tetsu tried to sign something but her body blocked his hands - she shook her head.
“No.”
What was Rin getting at? Tetsu had no idea - he could feel the anxiety rise in his chest and start to choke him, his breathing drawing shallower - had he screwed up somehow?
“It’s all wrong - I’m doing this all wrong - he’s supposed to trust me; I'm fucking this all up. Why did I decide to go off-script and rush things?” Rin thought, starting to freak out. She shook her head - “Get a grip, Tezuka; we’re not bailing now - not either of us. What did Miki say? Trust - it’s all about trust.”
Pressing her chest against his, she inhaled deeply then exhaled and looked up into Tetsu’s eyes - “It’s ok - I trust you - you’re — special to me. More than a friend.” She pressed her forehead into Tetsu’s chest and put her arms under his, holding them tightly against the sides of his chest. “I trusted you last night — and it was right; that was special. Now I want something special for you.”
Tetsu, completely unable to use his hands to speak, did the only thing he could do — he hugged her back in a state of confusion and held her. Presently he bent his head to hers and started crying, though he couldn’t really say why.
First, small hot tears leaked out between eyelids squeezed tightly shut, then wracking sobs; ugly, his face red, his tears and saliva in her hair - he was mortified, but Rin, with her arms under his, wouldn’t let him go. Rin pressed harder into his chest “It’s ok, it’s ok - everything is ok - everything will be ok. Don’t be afraid - please, don’t be afraid.”
“We’re a mess, but we’re ok, aren’t we?” Rin said, looking up to Tetsu’s face, red and wet with tears. She kept looking and, finally, he understood that she hadn’t wanted anything from him. “Now I want something special for you — ”she had trusted him, and wanted him to trust her in return.
“Is this what trust is like? It tastes funny - but not in a bad way.” he thought to himself.
“.. aren’t we?”
Tetsu put his forehead to hers and spoke into the space between them — “We are.”
--
Two Body Problem (Complete)
-
Asoko_Desu
- Posts: 230
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:30 pm
- Location: L5
Re: Two Body Problem
- Attachments
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Last edited by Asoko_Desu on Sat Jun 17, 2023 7:11 pm, edited 5 times in total.
"So much to do, so little time."
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
-
Asoko_Desu
- Posts: 230
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:30 pm
- Location: L5
Re: Two Body Problem
Coming Attractions
October 15 - Monday afternoon
School was done for the day and Emi was brushing Rin’s hair —
“Say what?”
“Tetsu - he’s a good cook. He made us dinner - teriyaki and curry - not together. The curry was better.”
“Well, he fed you - I guess now he has to keep you,” Emi was, of course, teasing, but knew there was a very real chance Rin would take her seriously.
Of course Rin took Emi literally — “I am not a stray cat!”
“Really? Did he give you a name?”
“What? No! Well - he calls me `Rin desu` .. I think he’s trying to say `The Rin` or `It’s Rin` or something .. and he pronounces my name wrong - I think it’s his accent .. and Rin is already my name!” Rin was blushing furiously.
Emi just laughed - “Why do you think they call it a `pet` name?”
“He did not adopt me. I am going to tell him to stop calling me ‘Rin desu’ today,” Rin’s frustration being unusually evident.
—
“Tetsu?”
Tetsu was distracted, being busy soldering something to something else — a faint wisp of vapourized resin rose into the air like exotic incense, his eyes protected from it by goggles.
“Mm. Rin desu?” Tetsu replied, distractedly - the trace of resin vapour dispersed by his breath.
“About that .. I .. I ..”
“Mmm?”
“I .. I need you to make dinner for me again tonight - Emi’s on a date with Hisao and if you don’t feed me I’ll starve.”
[ OK - What do you want? ]
“Anything - surprise me; just not teriyaki.”
[ Can you eat cheese? ]
“Sure - and yogurt; I don’t often, but I can.”
[ OK - see you tonight - I’ll make something from home - I think the Aura mart has what I need in stock ]
Tetsu turned off the soldering iron, wiping the tip clean with a hissing sound on a wet sponge, and then unplugged it.
Rin left and walked down the hall back to the women’s dorm in a stew — “Well .. that went exactly as planned,” Rin thought to herself, mentally planting the sole of her foot on her face. “Now to get Emi to take Hisao out on a date so I don’t seem like a complete fool."
"Why can’t I talk around him - worse than I usually can’t I mean .. also I forgot to tell Emi the important news - that Tetsu talked to me!" A strange giddy feeling took hold when she thought of it - "I'll tell her next time I see her!"
--
October 15 - Monday afternoon
School was done for the day and Emi was brushing Rin’s hair —
“Say what?”
“Tetsu - he’s a good cook. He made us dinner - teriyaki and curry - not together. The curry was better.”
“Well, he fed you - I guess now he has to keep you,” Emi was, of course, teasing, but knew there was a very real chance Rin would take her seriously.
Of course Rin took Emi literally — “I am not a stray cat!”
“Really? Did he give you a name?”
“What? No! Well - he calls me `Rin desu` .. I think he’s trying to say `The Rin` or `It’s Rin` or something .. and he pronounces my name wrong - I think it’s his accent .. and Rin is already my name!” Rin was blushing furiously.
Emi just laughed - “Why do you think they call it a `pet` name?”
“He did not adopt me. I am going to tell him to stop calling me ‘Rin desu’ today,” Rin’s frustration being unusually evident.
—
“Tetsu?”
Tetsu was distracted, being busy soldering something to something else — a faint wisp of vapourized resin rose into the air like exotic incense, his eyes protected from it by goggles.
“Mm. Rin desu?” Tetsu replied, distractedly - the trace of resin vapour dispersed by his breath.
“About that .. I .. I ..”
“Mmm?”
“I .. I need you to make dinner for me again tonight - Emi’s on a date with Hisao and if you don’t feed me I’ll starve.”
[ OK - What do you want? ]
“Anything - surprise me; just not teriyaki.”
[ Can you eat cheese? ]
“Sure - and yogurt; I don’t often, but I can.”
[ OK - see you tonight - I’ll make something from home - I think the Aura mart has what I need in stock ]
Tetsu turned off the soldering iron, wiping the tip clean with a hissing sound on a wet sponge, and then unplugged it.
Rin left and walked down the hall back to the women’s dorm in a stew — “Well .. that went exactly as planned,” Rin thought to herself, mentally planting the sole of her foot on her face. “Now to get Emi to take Hisao out on a date so I don’t seem like a complete fool."
"Why can’t I talk around him - worse than I usually can’t I mean .. also I forgot to tell Emi the important news - that Tetsu talked to me!" A strange giddy feeling took hold when she thought of it - "I'll tell her next time I see her!"
--
- Attachments
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- Mac n Cheese Dinner.jpg (382.07 KiB) Viewed 6273 times
Last edited by Asoko_Desu on Sat Sep 16, 2023 8:47 am, edited 7 times in total.
"So much to do, so little time."
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
-
Asoko_Desu
- Posts: 230
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:30 pm
- Location: L5
Re: Two Body Problem
A Game Called Patience
October 15 - Monday evening
October 15 - Monday evening
--Hello old typewriuter!
A very interesting and positive thing happened last weekend - Rin stayed over night in my room!
No, it was ntohing like that -- she slept on my bed until she didn’t, and I slept alone on the floor, until I wasn’t. I always thought company whilst sleeping woudl be distracting, but it wasn’t - it was better than not sleeping with someone. And I don’t mean like _that_.
I made dinner and we watched a movie first then she fell asleep on me .. and she was beautiful. I can’t describe it, really. I’ve always thought she was cute, but not like this .. I have to give this some thought.
Anyhow, I made dinner for us both - we ate on the floor. She must have liked it because she’s coming for dinner again tonight - I’m going to make macaroni and cheese; the Aura Mart had pretty much all that I needed. I don’t know how good their frozen pasta will be, but who cares - mac and cheese it’s really all about the cheese.
But that’s not the important thing - gotta slow down ow I won’t be able to type this straight - the important thing is that I _talked_ to her - with words! She’s really bright - she learned sign language so she could talk to me - who does that? And then she wouldn’t let me sign to her and I cried all over her and made a mess and then I spoke to her.
Re-reading that, it makes absolutely no sense at all, but I was there so it’s all true. When I couldn’t sign to her I could only talk to her -- needs must I guess. And, having her stay over, I guess deep down the part of me whtat doesn’t trust people decided I could trust her. Thanks for small mercies and big miracles.
Now what. Will I freeze up around her again? Won’t knwo until I try to talk to her again - At least she knows sign in case I freeze up, and there’s dinner - always nice to have someone to eat dinner with.
What did she say? “Everything will be ok - please, it will be ok.”
Maybe, if I can keep trusting her, it will be.
"So much to do, so little time."
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
-
Asoko_Desu
- Posts: 230
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:30 pm
- Location: L5
Re: Two Body Problem
Mechanics of the Work
October 17 — Wednesday afternoon
“Hey Tetsu - ah, hi.”
Tetsu’s attention was focussed on something attached to his door handle that he had been fiddling with; interrupted, he turned to face Hisao. All this time being near-neighbours and they hadn’t really interacted as such — of course, Tetsu’s tendency to late hours and his proverbial reticence undermined any attempts at friendly banter, had there been any, but time passes.
Tetsu waved and his face shaped itself into what, for him, passed as a smile. Hisao felt the hair raise on the back of his neck.
“Emi told me Rin says you talked to her — congratulations!”
Tetsu bowed politely and, respecting the wishes of his therapist, made an attempt to respond —
“Yes - that’s so.” Tetsu’s smile grew broader at his success in talking to Hisao; a small success but a success none the less - Hisao took half a step back.
“What that’s on your door handle?”
Tetsu had been working with a string and a wooden ring contraption, attached to his door handle. The door handles at Yamaku were levers to accommodate students with grip / manual dexterity issues; Rin could work them with her feet, but it was awkward and - to Tetsu’s mind - dangerous, requiring she balance herself precariously to manipulate the door handle.
The way Tetsu had modified the arrangement was that he’d tied a wooden ring to the door handle with a string that brought it low enough to the ground to be worked by a foot without a lot of precarious balancing.
“For Rin — safer”
“What does caretaking think of it?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care.” Tetsu didn’t mean to be gruff — it just came out that way, in Japanese at least.
“You’re really taking this Rin thing seriously.”
Tetsu turned to regard Hisao — laconic answers weren’t going to suffice, unfortunately. Tetsu decided to step out of his “comfort zone” - a term his therapist had taught him.
“Am I? Perhaps. I don’t want her to hurt herself.”
“Rin mostly hip-checks the handles down.”
Tetsu shrugged — “Didn’t know that.”
“I’m sure she’ll appreciate the effort though!”
Tetsu nodded — “No effort is wasted,” he said, and finished the thought in his head - “.. nor unpunished.”
Hisao thought that Tetsu’s defense of Rin’s needs was principled, but driven perhaps by something other than principle alone.
“OK, then - I’m off to see Emi; bye!”
Tetsu smiled again and waved goodbye to Hisao’s retreating back.
--
October 17 — Wednesday afternoon
“Hey Tetsu - ah, hi.”
Tetsu’s attention was focussed on something attached to his door handle that he had been fiddling with; interrupted, he turned to face Hisao. All this time being near-neighbours and they hadn’t really interacted as such — of course, Tetsu’s tendency to late hours and his proverbial reticence undermined any attempts at friendly banter, had there been any, but time passes.
Tetsu waved and his face shaped itself into what, for him, passed as a smile. Hisao felt the hair raise on the back of his neck.
“Emi told me Rin says you talked to her — congratulations!”
Tetsu bowed politely and, respecting the wishes of his therapist, made an attempt to respond —
“Yes - that’s so.” Tetsu’s smile grew broader at his success in talking to Hisao; a small success but a success none the less - Hisao took half a step back.
“What that’s on your door handle?”
Tetsu had been working with a string and a wooden ring contraption, attached to his door handle. The door handles at Yamaku were levers to accommodate students with grip / manual dexterity issues; Rin could work them with her feet, but it was awkward and - to Tetsu’s mind - dangerous, requiring she balance herself precariously to manipulate the door handle.
The way Tetsu had modified the arrangement was that he’d tied a wooden ring to the door handle with a string that brought it low enough to the ground to be worked by a foot without a lot of precarious balancing.
“For Rin — safer”
“What does caretaking think of it?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care.” Tetsu didn’t mean to be gruff — it just came out that way, in Japanese at least.
“You’re really taking this Rin thing seriously.”
Tetsu turned to regard Hisao — laconic answers weren’t going to suffice, unfortunately. Tetsu decided to step out of his “comfort zone” - a term his therapist had taught him.
“Am I? Perhaps. I don’t want her to hurt herself.”
“Rin mostly hip-checks the handles down.”
Tetsu shrugged — “Didn’t know that.”
“I’m sure she’ll appreciate the effort though!”
Tetsu nodded — “No effort is wasted,” he said, and finished the thought in his head - “.. nor unpunished.”
Hisao thought that Tetsu’s defense of Rin’s needs was principled, but driven perhaps by something other than principle alone.
“OK, then - I’m off to see Emi; bye!”
Tetsu smiled again and waved goodbye to Hisao’s retreating back.
--
"So much to do, so little time."
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
-
Asoko_Desu
- Posts: 230
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:30 pm
- Location: L5
Re: Two Body Problem
Showdown at the Shanghai Corral
October 19 - Friday evening
The week - what remained of it - had gone well; Rin and Tetsu made light conversation - what passed for light with them at least - and talking with Rin felt almost .. natural to Tetsu. He didn't have to force himself and Rin was utterly non-judgemental of his progressively less frequent grammatical faux pas.
So the beginning of the end of the week arrived and something social was happening ..
—
Rin and Tetsu approached the Shanghai — “Would you be more comfortable signing? There will be a bunch of people here tonight.”
“I might. Let’s see how it goes. Whose birthday is this?”
“I thought you knew.”
“Not I — Emi didn’t say?”
“No - she just said be here for a birthday party. As long as there’s cake, what could go wrong?”
—
Entering the Shanghai, the only empty spots were in a booth with Shizune, Misha, Emi, and Hisao, which made choosing a seat easy.
“Rin - Tetsu! Saved you seats!” Called out Emi, waving frantically at them.
Tetsu and Rin weaved their way through the unusually crowded cafe and sat down in a horseshoe-shaped booth, opposite Shizune and Misha with Hisao and Emi in the middle. Shizune waved to Tetsu.
[ What’s new? ] asked Shizune.
[ Not a lot - same old - and you? ] replied Tetsu, somewhat awkwardly. He was not looking to prolong the conversation - her aggressive nature still made him feel uncomfortable - but aside from Misha, Tetsu was the only other one Shizune could have an unmediated discussion with - and she was sitting right across from him; to ignore her outright would have been inexcusable.
[ Student council work - as always - you still busy with the Robot Club? ] responded Shizune.
[ It’s really more of a remote-control car club - despite calling it a ‘Robot’ club - I guess it just sounds cooler calling it a robot club - but everything we have is so old - nothing runs for long - I have to machine parts by hand if something breaks and our tools are ancient - fortunately they were of good quality at one time ]
[ You never told me - what’s your sign-name? ] asked Shizune.
Tetsu demonstrated - his right hand in the ASL sign for the letter ’t’, held against palm of his left hand and turned like a ratchet.
[ That’s really evocative - who thought that up for you? ]
[ I did - I wanted something different - what’s yours? ]
Shizune demonstrates - her right hand held in the sign for ‘shi’, while moved in the JSL sign for ‘can do’.
[ That’s cool - and very you! ]
[ Same! ]
“Can someone please tell me what they’re talking about?” asked Hisao.
“Sorry,” said Misha — “Trying to interpret for two people just messes me up - Rin, can you interpret for Tetsu and I’ll cover Shizune?
“OK” agreed Rin.
Tetsu held up a hand and Shizune paused her signing while Tetsu looked at Misha and Rin and waited for them to catch up.
“Thanks - they just said ‘Hi’, caught up on what they’ve been up to - Student Council and Robot Club, respectively - and are now discussing their respective sign names.” said Misha.
“I never realized how chatty deaf people could be - they’re so quiet when they talk!” Observed Emi.
Tetsu put his hand down and Shizune resumed signing. Hisao felt Rin and Misha’s duet of interpretation - attaching Rin and Misha’s voices to Tetsu / Shizune’s words respectively - was deeply surreal.
[ Now the festival’s over, don’t suppose you’d have time to help us out with some paperwork? ] probed Shizune.
[ I’d like to, but I’ve just started a sort-of computer club ]
[ ‘Sort of’? ]
[ Well, it’s not much of a club - yet - I fix people’s computers - the journalism club gave me a desk when I recovered Naomi’s files after a disk crash - people come by after class for help - it’s a drop-in thing. ]
[ Ah yes - that computer repair thing you do ] Shizune said enigmatically [ Doesn’t that intrude on your running? ]
[ I run after - I’m only there for an hour, but now word is getting around and the service is getting too popular - it would be good to have other people there to help out and learn - hence calling it a club - anyhow, I’m not a class rep - I couldn’t help with SC business ]
[ True, but we wouldn’t be making you an SC member - just a student volunteer ]
Tetsu thought back to the early days of arriving at Yamaku when offering to be ‘just’ a volunteer wasn’t good enough, but stayed his hands. “How times change,” he thought.
[ Unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to give you a commitment that I could guarantee keeping ]
[ Regrettable - anyhow, feel free to drop by the Student Council offices and say hi - you’re always welcome ]
[ Thanks ] Signed Tetsu. “That’s a nice change,” he thought - took a long time for the ice to thaw, and for the longest while it looked like it never would.
“Are you going to eat your cake?” asked Emi.
“Also your tea is getting cold.” commented Rin; Tetsu interpreted both for Shizune.
[ When signing it’s not polite to talk with your hands full ] said Shizune primly; Tetsu made the sign for laughter.
“This is just too weird, Rin - you never talk like this,” said Emi.
“I’m not now. These are Tetsu’s words - not mine. Trees make sound when the wind blows through them - the sound belongs to the wind, not the tree.”
“What’s a sign name?” Asked Emi.
Misha answered and signed - “It’s a shorthand sign for your name so you don’t have to keep spelling it out. It should have the first letter of your name; `Shi` for Shizune, or `Te` for Tetsu, for example. Tetsu’s sign name is actually the ASL letter `T` (Misha showed everyone an ASL letter `T`) then you hold it against the palm of your left hand and turn it like a ratchet - because Tetsu’s always fixing things. Shizune’s is the hand-sign for the letter ‘shi’, moved like the sign for ‘can do’.
“That’s very poetic.” Emi observed. “Does Rin have a sign name?”
Misha interpreted this - Shizune and Tetsu looked at each other; Shizune signed briefly and nodded to Tetsu.
“Shizune thinks Tetsu should choose one because he’s Rin’s boyfriend — Whaaa??” Misha exclaimed.
[ He’s not? ] Asked Shizune, seeing the surprise on Misha’s face.
Tetsu, intelligently, sat there with his mouth open.
[ Misha - don’t interpret this ] signed Shizune rapidly.
[ Tetsu - I thought you two were dating ]
Rin blushed and looked sideways at Shizune, thinking - “I don’t know where you’re going with this, but if you fuck this up for me I swear I will end you.”
Shizune signed with finality — [ It’s obvious - get over yourself - she follows you everywhere you go - and you - you can’t keep your eyes off of her - grow a backbone and confess to her before I find someone who will! ]
Then, with a sinking feeling, Shizune realized that Rin had been interpreting for Tetsu all evening - because Rin wasn’t signing, it had escaped Shizune’s notice.
Shizune slowly turned her eyes to Rin, sitting right across the table from her - Rin had very clearly seen every word as if they had been signed directly at her, and was staring daggers at Shizune — a very Emi-like look of rage.
For possibly the very first time in her adult life, Shizune blanched - “Damn, she’s pissed ..”
“Guys?” Asked Emi, concerned - she couldn’t read sign, but she could read the tension in the air. “What was that all about? Neither Misha nor Rin are interpreting.”
[ I think we need to leave now ] signed Tetsu.
“Tetsu and I are leaving,” said Rin.
Tetsu and Rin exchanged glances - Tetsu apologetic, Rin anxious; they got up and left.
“I’m having more cake - anyone else want more cake?” Asked Misha, apprehensively.
--
October 19 - Friday evening
The week - what remained of it - had gone well; Rin and Tetsu made light conversation - what passed for light with them at least - and talking with Rin felt almost .. natural to Tetsu. He didn't have to force himself and Rin was utterly non-judgemental of his progressively less frequent grammatical faux pas.
So the beginning of the end of the week arrived and something social was happening ..
—
Rin and Tetsu approached the Shanghai — “Would you be more comfortable signing? There will be a bunch of people here tonight.”
“I might. Let’s see how it goes. Whose birthday is this?”
“I thought you knew.”
“Not I — Emi didn’t say?”
“No - she just said be here for a birthday party. As long as there’s cake, what could go wrong?”
—
Entering the Shanghai, the only empty spots were in a booth with Shizune, Misha, Emi, and Hisao, which made choosing a seat easy.
“Rin - Tetsu! Saved you seats!” Called out Emi, waving frantically at them.
Tetsu and Rin weaved their way through the unusually crowded cafe and sat down in a horseshoe-shaped booth, opposite Shizune and Misha with Hisao and Emi in the middle. Shizune waved to Tetsu.
[ What’s new? ] asked Shizune.
[ Not a lot - same old - and you? ] replied Tetsu, somewhat awkwardly. He was not looking to prolong the conversation - her aggressive nature still made him feel uncomfortable - but aside from Misha, Tetsu was the only other one Shizune could have an unmediated discussion with - and she was sitting right across from him; to ignore her outright would have been inexcusable.
[ Student council work - as always - you still busy with the Robot Club? ] responded Shizune.
[ It’s really more of a remote-control car club - despite calling it a ‘Robot’ club - I guess it just sounds cooler calling it a robot club - but everything we have is so old - nothing runs for long - I have to machine parts by hand if something breaks and our tools are ancient - fortunately they were of good quality at one time ]
[ You never told me - what’s your sign-name? ] asked Shizune.
Tetsu demonstrated - his right hand in the ASL sign for the letter ’t’, held against palm of his left hand and turned like a ratchet.
[ That’s really evocative - who thought that up for you? ]
[ I did - I wanted something different - what’s yours? ]
Shizune demonstrates - her right hand held in the sign for ‘shi’, while moved in the JSL sign for ‘can do’.
[ That’s cool - and very you! ]
[ Same! ]
“Can someone please tell me what they’re talking about?” asked Hisao.
“Sorry,” said Misha — “Trying to interpret for two people just messes me up - Rin, can you interpret for Tetsu and I’ll cover Shizune?
“OK” agreed Rin.
Tetsu held up a hand and Shizune paused her signing while Tetsu looked at Misha and Rin and waited for them to catch up.
“Thanks - they just said ‘Hi’, caught up on what they’ve been up to - Student Council and Robot Club, respectively - and are now discussing their respective sign names.” said Misha.
“I never realized how chatty deaf people could be - they’re so quiet when they talk!” Observed Emi.
Tetsu put his hand down and Shizune resumed signing. Hisao felt Rin and Misha’s duet of interpretation - attaching Rin and Misha’s voices to Tetsu / Shizune’s words respectively - was deeply surreal.
[ Now the festival’s over, don’t suppose you’d have time to help us out with some paperwork? ] probed Shizune.
[ I’d like to, but I’ve just started a sort-of computer club ]
[ ‘Sort of’? ]
[ Well, it’s not much of a club - yet - I fix people’s computers - the journalism club gave me a desk when I recovered Naomi’s files after a disk crash - people come by after class for help - it’s a drop-in thing. ]
[ Ah yes - that computer repair thing you do ] Shizune said enigmatically [ Doesn’t that intrude on your running? ]
[ I run after - I’m only there for an hour, but now word is getting around and the service is getting too popular - it would be good to have other people there to help out and learn - hence calling it a club - anyhow, I’m not a class rep - I couldn’t help with SC business ]
[ True, but we wouldn’t be making you an SC member - just a student volunteer ]
Tetsu thought back to the early days of arriving at Yamaku when offering to be ‘just’ a volunteer wasn’t good enough, but stayed his hands. “How times change,” he thought.
[ Unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to give you a commitment that I could guarantee keeping ]
[ Regrettable - anyhow, feel free to drop by the Student Council offices and say hi - you’re always welcome ]
[ Thanks ] Signed Tetsu. “That’s a nice change,” he thought - took a long time for the ice to thaw, and for the longest while it looked like it never would.
“Are you going to eat your cake?” asked Emi.
“Also your tea is getting cold.” commented Rin; Tetsu interpreted both for Shizune.
[ When signing it’s not polite to talk with your hands full ] said Shizune primly; Tetsu made the sign for laughter.
“This is just too weird, Rin - you never talk like this,” said Emi.
“I’m not now. These are Tetsu’s words - not mine. Trees make sound when the wind blows through them - the sound belongs to the wind, not the tree.”
“What’s a sign name?” Asked Emi.
Misha answered and signed - “It’s a shorthand sign for your name so you don’t have to keep spelling it out. It should have the first letter of your name; `Shi` for Shizune, or `Te` for Tetsu, for example. Tetsu’s sign name is actually the ASL letter `T` (Misha showed everyone an ASL letter `T`) then you hold it against the palm of your left hand and turn it like a ratchet - because Tetsu’s always fixing things. Shizune’s is the hand-sign for the letter ‘shi’, moved like the sign for ‘can do’.
“That’s very poetic.” Emi observed. “Does Rin have a sign name?”
Misha interpreted this - Shizune and Tetsu looked at each other; Shizune signed briefly and nodded to Tetsu.
“Shizune thinks Tetsu should choose one because he’s Rin’s boyfriend — Whaaa??” Misha exclaimed.
[ He’s not? ] Asked Shizune, seeing the surprise on Misha’s face.
Tetsu, intelligently, sat there with his mouth open.
[ Misha - don’t interpret this ] signed Shizune rapidly.
[ Tetsu - I thought you two were dating ]
Rin blushed and looked sideways at Shizune, thinking - “I don’t know where you’re going with this, but if you fuck this up for me I swear I will end you.”
Shizune signed with finality — [ It’s obvious - get over yourself - she follows you everywhere you go - and you - you can’t keep your eyes off of her - grow a backbone and confess to her before I find someone who will! ]
Then, with a sinking feeling, Shizune realized that Rin had been interpreting for Tetsu all evening - because Rin wasn’t signing, it had escaped Shizune’s notice.
Shizune slowly turned her eyes to Rin, sitting right across the table from her - Rin had very clearly seen every word as if they had been signed directly at her, and was staring daggers at Shizune — a very Emi-like look of rage.
For possibly the very first time in her adult life, Shizune blanched - “Damn, she’s pissed ..”
“Guys?” Asked Emi, concerned - she couldn’t read sign, but she could read the tension in the air. “What was that all about? Neither Misha nor Rin are interpreting.”
[ I think we need to leave now ] signed Tetsu.
“Tetsu and I are leaving,” said Rin.
Tetsu and Rin exchanged glances - Tetsu apologetic, Rin anxious; they got up and left.
“I’m having more cake - anyone else want more cake?” Asked Misha, apprehensively.
--
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Last edited by Asoko_Desu on Sat Jun 17, 2023 7:15 pm, edited 3 times in total.
"So much to do, so little time."
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
-
Asoko_Desu
- Posts: 230
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:30 pm
- Location: L5
Re: Two Body Problem
Second Stealing for First
October 19 - Friday evening
Rin and Tetsu walked a while in silence - only the moon lit their path. The air was crisp; the cheering warmth of autumn days had wholly left the air, but the chill of winter had not yet arrived.
Not wanting to run into anyone from the party, Rin veered to cut through the park which was more or less on the way back to Yamaku, and familiar - she and Tetsu had picnicked there more than once.
“Rin. I’m sorry Shizune put you on the spot ..”
“No, don’t apologize. She was right - we should have discussed this before now.”
“Don’t think that you have to ..”
“Never be afraid to tell a boy to be quiet,” Emi had said, “Otherwise they’ll never let you get a word in edgewise.”
Rin looked determined, like she’d just made a difficult decision - her lips drawn in a straight line.
“Shh — let me talk first.”
“Fuck - this is it,” thought Tetsu. “`I like you, but not like that.` or `Let’s just be friends.` `You? Me?` Peals of insulted laughter. Let me down hard or let me down easy - which is it going to be?”
Tetsu could feel his throat closing up - he wanted to run and never see any of them ever again. In retrospect, he’d been obviously puppy-dogging Rin for some time and had thought the attraction was mutual. He realized that it had all been wishful thinking.
Being dumped by Rin was going to be something he felt would taint all his memories of Yamaku. Best to end this charade now and maintain some shred of dignity.
Rin spoke — “Tetsu - if you want to kiss me right now you should - I probably won’t mind.” Emi had told her to say those words when she knew the time was right to say them, and Rin thought there was no better time than right now.
“.. we don’t even have to be friends any more if you don’t .. what?”
“I said kiss me.”
Though shocked into silence, Tetsu was still able to sign — [ Whatever I do when I interact with people I really care for, I mess it up - it’s always wrong because they always get upset with me - if you’re asking me to kiss you, I will - but I’ll apologize now because I’ll probably do it wrong and maybe you’ll be angry with me after and go away too - maybe you’re going to go away anyhow and you just don’t want me to feel .. ]
Rin clasped Tetsu's hands with her arms as best she could — “Tetsu, stop. You’re scared - I know that because when I’m scared I babble and you’re babbling and you’re like me so you must be scared because I’m scared too and ..” here Rin took a deep breath and said as much for her sake as for his — “.. it’s OK. Just this once - everything can be OK.”
Emi hadn’t told Rin to say that, but Rin knew it was true and the right thing to say, and the right time to say it.
And then Rin silenced him the way she thought best — she put her arms on his shoulders, stood up on tip-toes, and pulled his face down to hers. “Emi would probably approve,” Rin thought.
Tetsu realized her hair smelled nice, and she smelled nice, and her skin was soft, and her lips made little motions as she kissed him. He liked the feeling when she put her arms on either side of his neck and pulled him closer. It was all too much information to process at once so he just closed his eyes and let it happen. As if on strings, his arms went naturally around her and held her close - he could feel her warmth in contrast to the cool night air.
They disengaged and Rin remembered to breathe — “That was nice - more than nice - I want to do that again with you a lot more if you’re ok with that,” she gasped.
“Yes. Yes, I am.” Tetsu was able to stammer out — “You’re not angry with me?”
“I’m pretty sure people who are angry don’t kiss — at least not like that.”
They resumed walking back to school; Rin, with an arm at Tetsu’s back - Tetsu with an arm around Rin’s shoulders.
--
October 19 - Friday evening
Rin and Tetsu walked a while in silence - only the moon lit their path. The air was crisp; the cheering warmth of autumn days had wholly left the air, but the chill of winter had not yet arrived.
Not wanting to run into anyone from the party, Rin veered to cut through the park which was more or less on the way back to Yamaku, and familiar - she and Tetsu had picnicked there more than once.
“Rin. I’m sorry Shizune put you on the spot ..”
“No, don’t apologize. She was right - we should have discussed this before now.”
“Don’t think that you have to ..”
“Never be afraid to tell a boy to be quiet,” Emi had said, “Otherwise they’ll never let you get a word in edgewise.”
Rin looked determined, like she’d just made a difficult decision - her lips drawn in a straight line.
“Shh — let me talk first.”
“Fuck - this is it,” thought Tetsu. “`I like you, but not like that.` or `Let’s just be friends.` `You? Me?` Peals of insulted laughter. Let me down hard or let me down easy - which is it going to be?”
Tetsu could feel his throat closing up - he wanted to run and never see any of them ever again. In retrospect, he’d been obviously puppy-dogging Rin for some time and had thought the attraction was mutual. He realized that it had all been wishful thinking.
Being dumped by Rin was going to be something he felt would taint all his memories of Yamaku. Best to end this charade now and maintain some shred of dignity.
Rin spoke — “Tetsu - if you want to kiss me right now you should - I probably won’t mind.” Emi had told her to say those words when she knew the time was right to say them, and Rin thought there was no better time than right now.
“.. we don’t even have to be friends any more if you don’t .. what?”
“I said kiss me.”
Though shocked into silence, Tetsu was still able to sign — [ Whatever I do when I interact with people I really care for, I mess it up - it’s always wrong because they always get upset with me - if you’re asking me to kiss you, I will - but I’ll apologize now because I’ll probably do it wrong and maybe you’ll be angry with me after and go away too - maybe you’re going to go away anyhow and you just don’t want me to feel .. ]
Rin clasped Tetsu's hands with her arms as best she could — “Tetsu, stop. You’re scared - I know that because when I’m scared I babble and you’re babbling and you’re like me so you must be scared because I’m scared too and ..” here Rin took a deep breath and said as much for her sake as for his — “.. it’s OK. Just this once - everything can be OK.”
Emi hadn’t told Rin to say that, but Rin knew it was true and the right thing to say, and the right time to say it.
And then Rin silenced him the way she thought best — she put her arms on his shoulders, stood up on tip-toes, and pulled his face down to hers. “Emi would probably approve,” Rin thought.
Tetsu realized her hair smelled nice, and she smelled nice, and her skin was soft, and her lips made little motions as she kissed him. He liked the feeling when she put her arms on either side of his neck and pulled him closer. It was all too much information to process at once so he just closed his eyes and let it happen. As if on strings, his arms went naturally around her and held her close - he could feel her warmth in contrast to the cool night air.
They disengaged and Rin remembered to breathe — “That was nice - more than nice - I want to do that again with you a lot more if you’re ok with that,” she gasped.
“Yes. Yes, I am.” Tetsu was able to stammer out — “You’re not angry with me?”
“I’m pretty sure people who are angry don’t kiss — at least not like that.”
They resumed walking back to school; Rin, with an arm at Tetsu’s back - Tetsu with an arm around Rin’s shoulders.
--
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- Late Autumn Park.jpg (335.64 KiB) Viewed 6261 times
Last edited by Asoko_Desu on Tue Jun 06, 2023 7:56 pm, edited 3 times in total.
"So much to do, so little time."
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
-
Asoko_Desu
- Posts: 230
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:30 pm
- Location: L5
Re: Two Body Problem
All the Shots You Don’t Take
October 20 — Saturday
Rin had gotten in and to bed well before Emi had — finding Rin’s door closed, Emi went to bed herself.
The party had developed a decidedly awkward air after Rin and Tetsu had so abruptly left. Emi wanted to blame them for poor manners, but had enough intuition to realize that they weren’t, perhaps, entirely to blame. Maybe it had something to do with what Shizune had said - something that had been part of the uninterpreted conversation.
Emi had tried to corner Misha alone to get the low-down, but Misha resolutely stuck close to Shizune putting up Halloween decorations - or was it Shizune sticking close to Misha to make sure she didn’t blab?
When Emi came back to her room after breakfast, Rin’s room was open but Rin was absent — “What the heck is happening?” Emi wondered for the umpteenth time that day.
—
Tetsu for his part felt equally at odds — unsure of where to progress from here.
Between reps, he unloaded his version of events on Miki and turned to her for advice —
“Miki - what do I do now? I feel like Rin and I are really close .. I want to spend all my time with her.”
“You want to smother her you mean.”
Tetsu looked at Miki like she was speaking some alien language ..
“No, seriously - you’re head over heels for her - and maybe she is for you - but you have to let this breathe a bit. It’s too easy to go all-in and kill a relationship before it’s strong enough to handle what you want to give it - you need to trust me on this.”
Tetsu did trust Miki, but the urge to drop everything to spend time with Rin was almost overwhelming — Tetsu felt like a computer that had loaded new software and the force of the programming was undermining his free will.
“Tetsu - screw weights for today; we need to run. You’ve got a whole lot of excess energy to burn off before you explode,” and Miki dragged Tetsu bodily out of the weights room and onto the track.
“Come on,” thought Miki — “Run, and for the love of shit, don’t fuck this up like I have, umpteen hundred times. Passion is like a stream from a firehose that needs to fit through a keyhole - turn it on too strong and it’ll blow the damn door off its hinges.”
After several laps, Miki turned to Tetsu — “When would you normally see Rin again?”
Tetsu pondered as he rounded the corner — “Today? Tomorrow? I might suggest we go into town or just hang out in her room while she paints.”
“What about in the evening?”
“She has sign language tutoring with Misha tomorrow night - I might offer to make her dinner tonight, normally.”
“I need you to promise me something — don’t do anything differently from what you’ve been doing; it’s obviously working! At the same time, don’t try to hard or to soft - she’s likely to read a shitload into it.”
“Thanks .. that helps a lot,” he said in his best sarcastic tone.
“Take her out on a date why don’t you, if you can afford it. There’s also a western-style movie theatre in town. Only two movies playing at any one time, but it’s worth a try. If she demurs, tell her she deserves a do-over from Friday night - but don’t force it if she doesn’t want to!”
—
Emi came back to her room after a shopping trip to town to stock up on Ramen noodles to find Rin in her own room, and her door partially ajar.
“Rin?”
“Emi.”
Emi knew Rin hated people prying into her business, but she had to try - just this once.
“Is everything ok?”
Rin nodded and turned her attention to a blank sheet of paper, selecting a pencil out of her pencil stand.
Emi cautiously pressed further — “I mean .. after last night.”
Rin paused for a second — “Yes. At least, I think it is.” Rin remained resolutely facing the paper in front of her.
“What .. happened last night?”
“I’d rather not discuss it.”
Emi looked pensive — she would of course respect Rin’s privacy, but she needed to know —
“Alright, but .. is everything OK — with Tetsu I mean?”
Rin looked towards Emi and sighed, but didn’t make eye contact — Rin was actually feeling apprehensive herself in the light of day, but she couldn’t put her finger on why. Still, Emi had been her confidant this far ..
“I’ll tell you, but I need you to do something for me first.”
“Sure - what?”
“Knock on wood.”
“Knock on wood? Like, a door?”
“Sure - or my table.”
Emi knocked twice on Rin’s table — “Was that OK?”
“As OK as it’s ever going to get. OK — `Knock on Wood`, I think everything’s ok .. last night I kissed Tetsu and he kissed me back. Can you knock on the table again for me please?”
Emi knocked again and thought it made a Rin-sort of sense — Rin was happy - cautiously happy - but worried that all her hard work would be taken away from her; she didn’t want to jinx her progress so far. Emi took a chance that this wouldn’t jinx things - Rin had never said it would - and she gave Rin a big hug.
“I’ll leave you be then.”
“Thank you for that. And Emi?”
“Mm?”
“Thank you .. for everything.”
Emi got up, knocked another three times on Rin’s table, and left; she could hear Rin sigh behind her - whether in relief, gratitude, prayer, or resignation — Emi couldn’t say.
—
The sun was just setting as Tetsu dropped by Rin’s room.
Tetsu knocked gently - “Hi.”
“Ah .. hi Tetsu,” Rin was shy; she shook her hair to hide her eyes.
“Any plans for tonight?”
“Actually .. ah .. yeah, I do,” she said. “Why the fuck did I say that - I have no plans. Well, it’s said now,” she thought to herself.
“No sweat — just thought that, you know - after Friday night - I thought .. I thought ..”
Rin cocked her head — was this it? He’d had a day to think it over, was what they did a bad idea? Did he want to have `the talk` with her? Rin could feel herself hanging on the edge of a precipice.
Tetsu collected himself and, in his mind’s eye, gave himself a solid kick in the ass.
“I thought since we didn’t really get any cake on Friday we were due a do-over - I’ve got a taste for sushi and there’s a nice sushi restaurant in town.”
Rin straightened up —
“Sushi?”
“Ah .. yeah, and maybe see what was playing at the movie theatre after ..”
Rin’s foot started tapping madly.
“.. but since you’re busy ..”
“You didn’t say sushi.”
“I just did.”
“But you didn’t say that first.”
“But your plans ..”
“I think .. I think .. I might be able to re-schedule my plans. When did you want to go?”
“Thirty minutes?”
“Perfect - meet you at your room.”
And with that - Tetsu was gone.
—
“Knock knock,” said Emi, once Tetsu was out of hearing range.
“You were listening.”
“The traditional response is `Who’s There?`”
“Who’s there?”
“Rin.”
“Rin who?”
“Rin didn’t scare Tetsu off is who!”
Rin smiled a lop-sided dopey smile as Emi ruffled her hair. “Let’s get you tidied up — I’ll brush your hair and you’ve got chocolate on your cheek. Plus, I can’t think of a better occasion to break out your fancy new bra we went shopping for!”
Rin’s smile turned from dopey to .. dare we say, hungry, as Emi fitted Rin with her new emerald green underwear, before helping Rin back into her school uniform - after all, everyone stands a little taller in their going-out best.
--
October 20 — Saturday
Rin had gotten in and to bed well before Emi had — finding Rin’s door closed, Emi went to bed herself.
The party had developed a decidedly awkward air after Rin and Tetsu had so abruptly left. Emi wanted to blame them for poor manners, but had enough intuition to realize that they weren’t, perhaps, entirely to blame. Maybe it had something to do with what Shizune had said - something that had been part of the uninterpreted conversation.
Emi had tried to corner Misha alone to get the low-down, but Misha resolutely stuck close to Shizune putting up Halloween decorations - or was it Shizune sticking close to Misha to make sure she didn’t blab?
When Emi came back to her room after breakfast, Rin’s room was open but Rin was absent — “What the heck is happening?” Emi wondered for the umpteenth time that day.
—
Tetsu for his part felt equally at odds — unsure of where to progress from here.
Between reps, he unloaded his version of events on Miki and turned to her for advice —
“Miki - what do I do now? I feel like Rin and I are really close .. I want to spend all my time with her.”
“You want to smother her you mean.”
Tetsu looked at Miki like she was speaking some alien language ..
“No, seriously - you’re head over heels for her - and maybe she is for you - but you have to let this breathe a bit. It’s too easy to go all-in and kill a relationship before it’s strong enough to handle what you want to give it - you need to trust me on this.”
Tetsu did trust Miki, but the urge to drop everything to spend time with Rin was almost overwhelming — Tetsu felt like a computer that had loaded new software and the force of the programming was undermining his free will.
“Tetsu - screw weights for today; we need to run. You’ve got a whole lot of excess energy to burn off before you explode,” and Miki dragged Tetsu bodily out of the weights room and onto the track.
“Come on,” thought Miki — “Run, and for the love of shit, don’t fuck this up like I have, umpteen hundred times. Passion is like a stream from a firehose that needs to fit through a keyhole - turn it on too strong and it’ll blow the damn door off its hinges.”
After several laps, Miki turned to Tetsu — “When would you normally see Rin again?”
Tetsu pondered as he rounded the corner — “Today? Tomorrow? I might suggest we go into town or just hang out in her room while she paints.”
“What about in the evening?”
“She has sign language tutoring with Misha tomorrow night - I might offer to make her dinner tonight, normally.”
“I need you to promise me something — don’t do anything differently from what you’ve been doing; it’s obviously working! At the same time, don’t try to hard or to soft - she’s likely to read a shitload into it.”
“Thanks .. that helps a lot,” he said in his best sarcastic tone.
“Take her out on a date why don’t you, if you can afford it. There’s also a western-style movie theatre in town. Only two movies playing at any one time, but it’s worth a try. If she demurs, tell her she deserves a do-over from Friday night - but don’t force it if she doesn’t want to!”
—
Emi came back to her room after a shopping trip to town to stock up on Ramen noodles to find Rin in her own room, and her door partially ajar.
“Rin?”
“Emi.”
Emi knew Rin hated people prying into her business, but she had to try - just this once.
“Is everything ok?”
Rin nodded and turned her attention to a blank sheet of paper, selecting a pencil out of her pencil stand.
Emi cautiously pressed further — “I mean .. after last night.”
Rin paused for a second — “Yes. At least, I think it is.” Rin remained resolutely facing the paper in front of her.
“What .. happened last night?”
“I’d rather not discuss it.”
Emi looked pensive — she would of course respect Rin’s privacy, but she needed to know —
“Alright, but .. is everything OK — with Tetsu I mean?”
Rin looked towards Emi and sighed, but didn’t make eye contact — Rin was actually feeling apprehensive herself in the light of day, but she couldn’t put her finger on why. Still, Emi had been her confidant this far ..
“I’ll tell you, but I need you to do something for me first.”
“Sure - what?”
“Knock on wood.”
“Knock on wood? Like, a door?”
“Sure - or my table.”
Emi knocked twice on Rin’s table — “Was that OK?”
“As OK as it’s ever going to get. OK — `Knock on Wood`, I think everything’s ok .. last night I kissed Tetsu and he kissed me back. Can you knock on the table again for me please?”
Emi knocked again and thought it made a Rin-sort of sense — Rin was happy - cautiously happy - but worried that all her hard work would be taken away from her; she didn’t want to jinx her progress so far. Emi took a chance that this wouldn’t jinx things - Rin had never said it would - and she gave Rin a big hug.
“I’ll leave you be then.”
“Thank you for that. And Emi?”
“Mm?”
“Thank you .. for everything.”
Emi got up, knocked another three times on Rin’s table, and left; she could hear Rin sigh behind her - whether in relief, gratitude, prayer, or resignation — Emi couldn’t say.
—
The sun was just setting as Tetsu dropped by Rin’s room.
Tetsu knocked gently - “Hi.”
“Ah .. hi Tetsu,” Rin was shy; she shook her hair to hide her eyes.
“Any plans for tonight?”
“Actually .. ah .. yeah, I do,” she said. “Why the fuck did I say that - I have no plans. Well, it’s said now,” she thought to herself.
“No sweat — just thought that, you know - after Friday night - I thought .. I thought ..”
Rin cocked her head — was this it? He’d had a day to think it over, was what they did a bad idea? Did he want to have `the talk` with her? Rin could feel herself hanging on the edge of a precipice.
Tetsu collected himself and, in his mind’s eye, gave himself a solid kick in the ass.
“I thought since we didn’t really get any cake on Friday we were due a do-over - I’ve got a taste for sushi and there’s a nice sushi restaurant in town.”
Rin straightened up —
“Sushi?”
“Ah .. yeah, and maybe see what was playing at the movie theatre after ..”
Rin’s foot started tapping madly.
“.. but since you’re busy ..”
“You didn’t say sushi.”
“I just did.”
“But you didn’t say that first.”
“But your plans ..”
“I think .. I think .. I might be able to re-schedule my plans. When did you want to go?”
“Thirty minutes?”
“Perfect - meet you at your room.”
And with that - Tetsu was gone.
—
“Knock knock,” said Emi, once Tetsu was out of hearing range.
“You were listening.”
“The traditional response is `Who’s There?`”
“Who’s there?”
“Rin.”
“Rin who?”
“Rin didn’t scare Tetsu off is who!”
Rin smiled a lop-sided dopey smile as Emi ruffled her hair. “Let’s get you tidied up — I’ll brush your hair and you’ve got chocolate on your cheek. Plus, I can’t think of a better occasion to break out your fancy new bra we went shopping for!”
Rin’s smile turned from dopey to .. dare we say, hungry, as Emi fitted Rin with her new emerald green underwear, before helping Rin back into her school uniform - after all, everyone stands a little taller in their going-out best.
--
- Attachments
-
- Date Night Sushi.jpg (353.36 KiB) Viewed 6187 times
Last edited by Asoko_Desu on Sat Apr 15, 2023 7:26 pm, edited 19 times in total.
"So much to do, so little time."
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
-
Silentcook
- Carelessly Cooking You
- Posts: 2568
- Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:22 am
- Location: Imola, Italy
Re: Two Body Problem
The formatting in this last piece is different. If it's by design it's okay, but it looks wonky enough to be a transcription error.
Shattering your dreams since '94. I also fought COVID in '20 and '21, and all I got was this lousy forum sig.
-
Asoko_Desu
- Posts: 230
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:30 pm
- Location: L5
Re: Two Body Problem
There's a couple of things you could have noticed - one intentional, the other not.
The first is breaking this scene up into sub-scenes with em-dashes; the sub-scenes are small and, temporally, follow fairly quickly on each other throughout the day around a central plot point (aftermath of Friday night's .. incident.) I didn't think it worked to make them into small discrete scenes as such.
The other is where carriage returns seem to get ignored when I copy/paste into this forum. I use a fairly format-free editor but, for whatever reason, (some, but not all) CRs can get lost, so I comb through the text and fix the mess here. Doesn't take too long, but today I got dragged away by Real Life, so it sat, in all its mutant glory, for longer than usual. I need to make more use of the `Save Draft` option, but it's not in my workflow muscle memory yet, unfortunately.
Either way, thanks for pointing it out - I try to be as polished as I can, but a second set of eyes is always appreciated; there's a reason editing is a career all its own
--
The first is breaking this scene up into sub-scenes with em-dashes; the sub-scenes are small and, temporally, follow fairly quickly on each other throughout the day around a central plot point (aftermath of Friday night's .. incident.) I didn't think it worked to make them into small discrete scenes as such.
The other is where carriage returns seem to get ignored when I copy/paste into this forum. I use a fairly format-free editor but, for whatever reason, (some, but not all) CRs can get lost, so I comb through the text and fix the mess here. Doesn't take too long, but today I got dragged away by Real Life, so it sat, in all its mutant glory, for longer than usual. I need to make more use of the `Save Draft` option, but it's not in my workflow muscle memory yet, unfortunately.
Either way, thanks for pointing it out - I try to be as polished as I can, but a second set of eyes is always appreciated; there's a reason editing is a career all its own
--
"So much to do, so little time."
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
-
Asoko_Desu
- Posts: 230
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:30 pm
- Location: L5
Re: Two Body Problem
Epiphany du Jour
October 21 - Sunday evening
Friday night notwithstanding, Rin had no issues with Misha — Rin knew which hand held the leash in Misha’s relationship with Shizune and, despite Tetsu’s opening up verbally and speaking to Rin, there was no reason not to continue with Misha’s sign language tutoring. Besides, Rin was, to her surprise, actually enjoying her lessons - Misha was a good teacher and a funny one; she'd gotten Rin laughing at points which was as much a surprise for Misha as for Rin.
“Rin, you’re speaking much more directly these days - I don’t mean sign,” Misha observed between mouthfuls of cake.
Rin hadn’t planned on coming to a sign language lesson to get feedback on her spoken elocution, but Misha’s observation intrigued her none the less.
“I am?”
“Yes - when you're interpreting for Tetsu, and even when you’re not, you’re really clear!”
“Those are his words, not mine.”
“No, they are your words - sign language isn’t a direct translation of the language you’re interpreting into; it’s its own language — remember what I taught you; if you just translate it’s not interpreting. You do interpret for Tetsu, and you’re doing a very good job of it.”
Rin looked unconvinced.
“Let me show you - interpret this for me ..” [ Misha signed ]
“What do you want to have for lunch today?” interpreted Rin.
“Right! One of our first lessons! What were the exact signs I used?”
“What you choose lunch question”
“OK - interpret this,” and Misha signed again.
“Are you feeling better today - I’m worried”
“Right - what signs did I use?”
“Question health increase you today question”
“Correct - you picked up on the fact that, because I indicated it was a question twice, I was worried - even though I never used the word.”
“So — my words.”
“Your words, Rin.”
“I am going to have to think about this — If I have changed, I didn’t even tell myself about it. I've always believed `change must come from within`, but if that doesn't mean change has to be a conscious decision ..”
Rin sat in quiet thought for a bit, contemplating the implications of this development. Misha took the opportunity to finish her cake and then break the silence —
“Plans for the Halloween dance?”
“That’s this week?”
“You haven’t noticed the decorations Shizune and I have been putting up?”
“I thought things looked a bit more orange and black than usual.”
“There’s a dance on Saturday night - you better be there, and you better have a costume .. you do have a costume, don’t you?
Rin shrugged — “Not really”
“Can I share something with you?”
Rin nodded.
“Talk to Tetsu - I think he has something planned for the two of you, and that’s all I’m going to say."
Rin tilted her head to the side in thought, and took a sip of her tea.
--
October 21 - Sunday evening
Friday night notwithstanding, Rin had no issues with Misha — Rin knew which hand held the leash in Misha’s relationship with Shizune and, despite Tetsu’s opening up verbally and speaking to Rin, there was no reason not to continue with Misha’s sign language tutoring. Besides, Rin was, to her surprise, actually enjoying her lessons - Misha was a good teacher and a funny one; she'd gotten Rin laughing at points which was as much a surprise for Misha as for Rin.
“Rin, you’re speaking much more directly these days - I don’t mean sign,” Misha observed between mouthfuls of cake.
Rin hadn’t planned on coming to a sign language lesson to get feedback on her spoken elocution, but Misha’s observation intrigued her none the less.
“I am?”
“Yes - when you're interpreting for Tetsu, and even when you’re not, you’re really clear!”
“Those are his words, not mine.”
“No, they are your words - sign language isn’t a direct translation of the language you’re interpreting into; it’s its own language — remember what I taught you; if you just translate it’s not interpreting. You do interpret for Tetsu, and you’re doing a very good job of it.”
Rin looked unconvinced.
“Let me show you - interpret this for me ..” [ Misha signed ]
“What do you want to have for lunch today?” interpreted Rin.
“Right! One of our first lessons! What were the exact signs I used?”
“What you choose lunch question”
“OK - interpret this,” and Misha signed again.
“Are you feeling better today - I’m worried”
“Right - what signs did I use?”
“Question health increase you today question”
“Correct - you picked up on the fact that, because I indicated it was a question twice, I was worried - even though I never used the word.”
“So — my words.”
“Your words, Rin.”
“I am going to have to think about this — If I have changed, I didn’t even tell myself about it. I've always believed `change must come from within`, but if that doesn't mean change has to be a conscious decision ..”
Rin sat in quiet thought for a bit, contemplating the implications of this development. Misha took the opportunity to finish her cake and then break the silence —
“Plans for the Halloween dance?”
“That’s this week?”
“You haven’t noticed the decorations Shizune and I have been putting up?”
“I thought things looked a bit more orange and black than usual.”
“There’s a dance on Saturday night - you better be there, and you better have a costume .. you do have a costume, don’t you?
Rin shrugged — “Not really”
“Can I share something with you?”
Rin nodded.
“Talk to Tetsu - I think he has something planned for the two of you, and that’s all I’m going to say."
Rin tilted her head to the side in thought, and took a sip of her tea.
--
- Attachments
-
- Green Tea with a Straw.jpg (357.71 KiB) Viewed 6140 times
"So much to do, so little time."
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
-
Asoko_Desu
- Posts: 230
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:30 pm
- Location: L5
Re: Two Body Problem
Happy Jack the Lantern
October 20 — October 27; Saturday - Saturday
The week leading up to the Halloween dance was a mad rush of activity — unlike the school festival, this was every person for themselves; designing and making costumes, experimenting with face paint, and trying to get a date to the dance.
—
“SPOOKY SATURDAY HALLOWEEN DANCE WITH DJ MIKI”
Shizune and Misha stepped back to admire their handiwork — recruiting from the art club to make up some last-minute silkscreened posters had been just the thing. Nomiya had protested, but Shizune had just ignored him - “Sorry, Sir; The Student Council President is deaf” explained Misha as Nomiya ranted about his art room being taken over by a “Crass commercial activity.”
[ Looks good - we’ve put up cut-outs of kaiju, giant squids and octopi, oni, ninjas, and enough orange and black bunting to paper the entire school ] said Shizune with satisfaction, having achieved a traditional Halloween look.
Because the Halloween dance was a wholly indoor event, Shizune and Misha had recruited a small army of enthusiastic first and second-years to put up as many decorations in the classrooms and halls as they could get away with — Shizune felt strongly that they should make at least, if not more, effort in every successive festival.
The posters announcing the dance were the capstone to their efforts. Miki had posed for the posters, and, with some artistic licence, they had depicted her as a pirate with a hook for a left hand. Misha had worried it was in bad taste, but Miki had found it hilarious and OK’d the design.
As the week rolled towards towards Saturday, the students were progressively more distracted by the buzz the decorations and posters were generating — the rumours of dorm-room trick-or-treating hosted by the third years didn’t do anything to quell that fervour.
The shop class had become a flurry of activity with students from outside of 3-A requesting time on the sewing machines to put the finishing touches on their costumes — there was a bittersweet look of .. something .. on Kurosawa-sensei’s face to see the classroom full for a change; “Too little, too late,” he murmured under his breath.
On the day of the dance, clouds of first and second-years roamed the upperclassmen’s dorms for their promised reward. Amongst some of the treats on offer, Lilly and Hanako were providing tasteful foil-wrapped chocolates shaped like chess pieces. Miki dolled out handfuls of multi-coloured condoms, and Emi shared from a big bowl of individually wrapped chocolate candies with soft gooey lemon centres.
Not to be outdone, the men’s dorm offered their own take on traditional Halloween treats — Hisao handed out small boxes of Cinnamon Hearts. Kenji’s door remained resolutely locked, but because he didn’t want his door egged he had left out a big brown-paper bag of bottle rockets for students to take.
--
October 20 — October 27; Saturday - Saturday
The week leading up to the Halloween dance was a mad rush of activity — unlike the school festival, this was every person for themselves; designing and making costumes, experimenting with face paint, and trying to get a date to the dance.
—
“SPOOKY SATURDAY HALLOWEEN DANCE WITH DJ MIKI”
Shizune and Misha stepped back to admire their handiwork — recruiting from the art club to make up some last-minute silkscreened posters had been just the thing. Nomiya had protested, but Shizune had just ignored him - “Sorry, Sir; The Student Council President is deaf” explained Misha as Nomiya ranted about his art room being taken over by a “Crass commercial activity.”
[ Looks good - we’ve put up cut-outs of kaiju, giant squids and octopi, oni, ninjas, and enough orange and black bunting to paper the entire school ] said Shizune with satisfaction, having achieved a traditional Halloween look.
Because the Halloween dance was a wholly indoor event, Shizune and Misha had recruited a small army of enthusiastic first and second-years to put up as many decorations in the classrooms and halls as they could get away with — Shizune felt strongly that they should make at least, if not more, effort in every successive festival.
The posters announcing the dance were the capstone to their efforts. Miki had posed for the posters, and, with some artistic licence, they had depicted her as a pirate with a hook for a left hand. Misha had worried it was in bad taste, but Miki had found it hilarious and OK’d the design.
As the week rolled towards towards Saturday, the students were progressively more distracted by the buzz the decorations and posters were generating — the rumours of dorm-room trick-or-treating hosted by the third years didn’t do anything to quell that fervour.
The shop class had become a flurry of activity with students from outside of 3-A requesting time on the sewing machines to put the finishing touches on their costumes — there was a bittersweet look of .. something .. on Kurosawa-sensei’s face to see the classroom full for a change; “Too little, too late,” he murmured under his breath.
On the day of the dance, clouds of first and second-years roamed the upperclassmen’s dorms for their promised reward. Amongst some of the treats on offer, Lilly and Hanako were providing tasteful foil-wrapped chocolates shaped like chess pieces. Miki dolled out handfuls of multi-coloured condoms, and Emi shared from a big bowl of individually wrapped chocolate candies with soft gooey lemon centres.
Not to be outdone, the men’s dorm offered their own take on traditional Halloween treats — Hisao handed out small boxes of Cinnamon Hearts. Kenji’s door remained resolutely locked, but because he didn’t want his door egged he had left out a big brown-paper bag of bottle rockets for students to take.
--
- Attachments
-
- DJ MIKI.jpg (352.72 KiB) Viewed 6059 times
Last edited by Asoko_Desu on Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"So much to do, so little time."
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
-
Asoko_Desu
- Posts: 230
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:30 pm
- Location: L5
Re: Two Body Problem
Designer Threads
October 22 - Monday Evening
Tetsu had desperately, perhaps ill-advisedly, wanted to surprise Rin with something for halloween - both Misha and Emi had only been too willing to help.
“Doesn’t matter that it’s fragile - it only needs to last one night.” Tetsu thought. It was beautiful. White and royal blue with gold ribbons hanging off the arms — Tetsu had decided to try and create costumes in the theme of Beauty and the Beast; no matter that it was just slightly beyond his abilities, with measurements supplied by Emi, and Misha confirming that Rin had no other costume plans Tetsu had attacked the challenge with gusto. Maybe if he’d put half as much effort into his own costume he wouldn’t have.. but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
When let in on the plan, Emi had covertly advised Tetsu on Rin’s measurements taken when Emi and she had gone clothing shopping. A bit of spandex, thought Tetsu, would make up for slight inaccuracies in measurements. His costume was another matter entirely.
The hose and breeks were no big deal — those Tetsu’d sewn in a couple of days; the jacket was what had been giving him trouble. He’d found a velvet smoking jacket at a second-hand shop in town, but it was, of course, too small for him — Tetsu thought he’d be able to modify it and make it bigger in the arms, sides, back .. everywhere basically, but it was old and the cloth was weak, and it would tear at the seams every time he put it on to try out his alterations.
Maybe it was fatigue, maybe it was the months and months of frustration coming to a peak as his jacket tore for the umpteenth time, but he just folded his arms, put his head down on them, and gave up. He tried to be quiet, but his ragged breathing was clearly audible.
He wasn’t aware of how much time had passed, but he felt a hand on each of his shoulders. Sitting up and wiping his eyes, it was Mika and Kika — in unison they lifted his arms and pulled the ruined jacket off of him. “Thank you,” they said in unison and took the jacket over to a table where Mika started to separate the jacket into pieces with a seam ripper, much as a sushi chef would parse a fine slab of fresh-caught tuna while Kika took Tetsu’s measurements.
Tetsu just watched — things couldn’t get any worse, after all. “Thank you?” Why were they destroying his jacket? Kurosawa-sensei quietly put his hand on Tetsu’s shoulder and raised a finger to his lips - “Be patient.” This was Kurosawa-sensei’s constant mantra. When dealing with challenges, be patient.
The jacket completely disassembled, Mika brought out a steam iron and started flattening the pieces. In the meantime Kika had unfurled and taped down tracing paper on the work desk, and had fitted a pencil to a weirdly-shaped wooden contraption — it looked like the letter `A` with an extra joint. Kika, consulting the measurements she’d taken, adjusted the device. As Mika pinned the flattened pieces of jacket to the table, Kika traced the shapes with the wooden contraption - as she traced them a pencil at the far end of the device drew an outline of the cloth on the tracing paper.
In a moment of insight, Tetsu realized that the traced patterns were larger than the original pieces of cloth — something about how the A-shaped device was constructed enlarged the original being traced. “Pantograph - it’s a Pantograph.” Tetsu remembered there had been a lesson on how to use one early in the year, but it had never been something he’d needed so he had forgotten about them.
As soon as all the parts of the jacket were traced, Mika disassembled the pantograph while Kika cut out the patterns they had created. The rest of the process flew by faster than Tetsu would have believed possible - the girls selected fabric from the class’ stores and cut it to shape from the patterns they’d created and sewed them together. Like Rin’s dress that Tetsu had made, the jacket had only minimal lining and nothing by way of padding, but - to Tetsu’s great astonishment - it looked great. It might not last the night, but Tetsu’s heart sang that it existed at all.
With the final fitting, the jacket sat perfectly on Tetsu’s shoulders. Mika and Kika turned to look at each other, then to Tetsu and bowed in unison — “Thank you.”
“Ah, of course — that time they’d been pinned under bolts of cloth!” Evidently they felt they’d needed to repay a debt. Tetsu wanted to thank them, but felt it might be awkward - he bowed low in gratitude and rose to see them smiling for the first time that he could remember.
--
October 22 - Monday Evening
Tetsu had desperately, perhaps ill-advisedly, wanted to surprise Rin with something for halloween - both Misha and Emi had only been too willing to help.
“Doesn’t matter that it’s fragile - it only needs to last one night.” Tetsu thought. It was beautiful. White and royal blue with gold ribbons hanging off the arms — Tetsu had decided to try and create costumes in the theme of Beauty and the Beast; no matter that it was just slightly beyond his abilities, with measurements supplied by Emi, and Misha confirming that Rin had no other costume plans Tetsu had attacked the challenge with gusto. Maybe if he’d put half as much effort into his own costume he wouldn’t have.. but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
When let in on the plan, Emi had covertly advised Tetsu on Rin’s measurements taken when Emi and she had gone clothing shopping. A bit of spandex, thought Tetsu, would make up for slight inaccuracies in measurements. His costume was another matter entirely.
The hose and breeks were no big deal — those Tetsu’d sewn in a couple of days; the jacket was what had been giving him trouble. He’d found a velvet smoking jacket at a second-hand shop in town, but it was, of course, too small for him — Tetsu thought he’d be able to modify it and make it bigger in the arms, sides, back .. everywhere basically, but it was old and the cloth was weak, and it would tear at the seams every time he put it on to try out his alterations.
Maybe it was fatigue, maybe it was the months and months of frustration coming to a peak as his jacket tore for the umpteenth time, but he just folded his arms, put his head down on them, and gave up. He tried to be quiet, but his ragged breathing was clearly audible.
He wasn’t aware of how much time had passed, but he felt a hand on each of his shoulders. Sitting up and wiping his eyes, it was Mika and Kika — in unison they lifted his arms and pulled the ruined jacket off of him. “Thank you,” they said in unison and took the jacket over to a table where Mika started to separate the jacket into pieces with a seam ripper, much as a sushi chef would parse a fine slab of fresh-caught tuna while Kika took Tetsu’s measurements.
Tetsu just watched — things couldn’t get any worse, after all. “Thank you?” Why were they destroying his jacket? Kurosawa-sensei quietly put his hand on Tetsu’s shoulder and raised a finger to his lips - “Be patient.” This was Kurosawa-sensei’s constant mantra. When dealing with challenges, be patient.
The jacket completely disassembled, Mika brought out a steam iron and started flattening the pieces. In the meantime Kika had unfurled and taped down tracing paper on the work desk, and had fitted a pencil to a weirdly-shaped wooden contraption — it looked like the letter `A` with an extra joint. Kika, consulting the measurements she’d taken, adjusted the device. As Mika pinned the flattened pieces of jacket to the table, Kika traced the shapes with the wooden contraption - as she traced them a pencil at the far end of the device drew an outline of the cloth on the tracing paper.
In a moment of insight, Tetsu realized that the traced patterns were larger than the original pieces of cloth — something about how the A-shaped device was constructed enlarged the original being traced. “Pantograph - it’s a Pantograph.” Tetsu remembered there had been a lesson on how to use one early in the year, but it had never been something he’d needed so he had forgotten about them.
As soon as all the parts of the jacket were traced, Mika disassembled the pantograph while Kika cut out the patterns they had created. The rest of the process flew by faster than Tetsu would have believed possible - the girls selected fabric from the class’ stores and cut it to shape from the patterns they’d created and sewed them together. Like Rin’s dress that Tetsu had made, the jacket had only minimal lining and nothing by way of padding, but - to Tetsu’s great astonishment - it looked great. It might not last the night, but Tetsu’s heart sang that it existed at all.
With the final fitting, the jacket sat perfectly on Tetsu’s shoulders. Mika and Kika turned to look at each other, then to Tetsu and bowed in unison — “Thank you.”
“Ah, of course — that time they’d been pinned under bolts of cloth!” Evidently they felt they’d needed to repay a debt. Tetsu wanted to thank them, but felt it might be awkward - he bowed low in gratitude and rose to see them smiling for the first time that he could remember.
--
"So much to do, so little time."
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
-
Asoko_Desu
- Posts: 230
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:30 pm
- Location: L5
Re: Two Body Problem
3/4 Of the Way, More or Less
Time files when you’re juggling bricks of text.
I don’t have a lot to say at this point except — 1, my favourite parts of this story are yet to come, and — 2, in taking breaks to let scenes and chapters settle, I’ve had the opportunity to read works of fiction here that have consistently re-set the bar in my estimation of how good the art of writing can get.
If you’re still reading after all this time, thank you - I hope I’ve made it worth your time.
--
Time files when you’re juggling bricks of text.
I don’t have a lot to say at this point except — 1, my favourite parts of this story are yet to come, and — 2, in taking breaks to let scenes and chapters settle, I’ve had the opportunity to read works of fiction here that have consistently re-set the bar in my estimation of how good the art of writing can get.
If you’re still reading after all this time, thank you - I hope I’ve made it worth your time.
--
"So much to do, so little time."
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
-
Asoko_Desu
- Posts: 230
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:30 pm
- Location: L5
Re: Two Body Problem
Roll the Bones
October 23 - Tuesday evening
“I had planned on using the portable mixing board from the music classes’ studio — Suzu knows someone there who might be able to help us out. Their turntables though are mounted in a chassis so we can’t take them out of the studio .. I’ll have to use my laptop.” Griped Miki.
“Problem is I have a bunch of LPs at home, but not much here - and even if I could borrow some LPs we still have no turntable,” Miki continued — “Digital it’ll have to be - I’ve seen you go down to the record store in town often enough to get CDs, what have you got?”
Tetsu opened a folder on his laptop named `Imports` — “Lots of awesome stuff - most of this won’t make it home for years!”
“Tetsu - I have all of these; they’re domestic releases - you’re in Japan now, remember?”
“Oh, ah - right - haha!” Tetsu wiped the sweat from his brow.
“What’s in that folder — `Dance and Other Strangeness`, if I’m reading it right?”
“Close enough —”
“Argh - they’re all titled in Eigo; I mean English — I can’t read any of them!”
“Don’t you study English with the rest of your class?”
“Don’t be such a nerd, Tetsu — I have better things to do during class time, like writing fanfic!”
Tetsu mentally facepalmed. “OK - fine. Let me suggest some and if you like them I’ll give you copies.”
“But Tetsu — wouldn’t that be piracy?”
Tetsu looked at Miki sideways ..
“Just fucking with you - like I give a shit. Let’s hear what you’ve got.”
Hours passed in deep concentration, Miki and Tetsu connected to his janky but functional dual-headphone adapter..
“OK,” said Miki — “So many good. Many more suck (“Hey!” protested Tetsu) My favourites so far are —
`Large in Japan`
`Big City Living`
`You With Me are Dancing`
`Last Train to the Centre of Enlightenment`
`Dark and Light and Mister Garden`
`Who are You in Love With?`
`Love is Someone Whose Name I Don’t Know`
`Road That Doesn’t Go Anywhere`
`To Dream`
`Call to Me`
`My Dreams Are Wired`
`Hot Potato-y`
`Time that is Warped Again`
“All of the `Love with Missiles` please, they’re so good — oh, and give me all of the the band `Casual Sex` — I might not play any of it at the dance - or I might - and I love the name — and it’s even in Japanese - so are some of the lyrics!”
“What about these - I can even spell their name in Japanese —“
“Shit - everyone knows the Ramones; I got their whole catalog.”
“These is good for Halloween — `Kurowuri-San`, `Never More Tears`, `Mother, Home I’m Going To`, and anything by `Aruiisu Ku—pa—`; very traditional Halloween music.” offered Tetsu.
Tetsu marvelled at how badly Miki was mangling the English band names and song titles. “Is this how I wrote when I came here? No wonder no one would talk to me,” he reflected.
“What do you think of starting with `Good and Bad and Ugly`?”
“Perfect,” said Tetsu — “Simply perfect - and a request?”
“What you need bro?”
“This one, for Rin and I —“
“`Tsurau—su`?”
“That’s the one — thank you.”
--
October 23 - Tuesday evening
“I had planned on using the portable mixing board from the music classes’ studio — Suzu knows someone there who might be able to help us out. Their turntables though are mounted in a chassis so we can’t take them out of the studio .. I’ll have to use my laptop.” Griped Miki.
“Problem is I have a bunch of LPs at home, but not much here - and even if I could borrow some LPs we still have no turntable,” Miki continued — “Digital it’ll have to be - I’ve seen you go down to the record store in town often enough to get CDs, what have you got?”
Tetsu opened a folder on his laptop named `Imports` — “Lots of awesome stuff - most of this won’t make it home for years!”
“Tetsu - I have all of these; they’re domestic releases - you’re in Japan now, remember?”
“Oh, ah - right - haha!” Tetsu wiped the sweat from his brow.
“What’s in that folder — `Dance and Other Strangeness`, if I’m reading it right?”
“Close enough —”
“Argh - they’re all titled in Eigo; I mean English — I can’t read any of them!”
“Don’t you study English with the rest of your class?”
“Don’t be such a nerd, Tetsu — I have better things to do during class time, like writing fanfic!”
Tetsu mentally facepalmed. “OK - fine. Let me suggest some and if you like them I’ll give you copies.”
“But Tetsu — wouldn’t that be piracy?”
Tetsu looked at Miki sideways ..
“Just fucking with you - like I give a shit. Let’s hear what you’ve got.”
Hours passed in deep concentration, Miki and Tetsu connected to his janky but functional dual-headphone adapter..
“OK,” said Miki — “So many good. Many more suck (“Hey!” protested Tetsu) My favourites so far are —
`Large in Japan`
`Big City Living`
`You With Me are Dancing`
`Last Train to the Centre of Enlightenment`
`Dark and Light and Mister Garden`
`Who are You in Love With?`
`Love is Someone Whose Name I Don’t Know`
`Road That Doesn’t Go Anywhere`
`To Dream`
`Call to Me`
`My Dreams Are Wired`
`Hot Potato-y`
`Time that is Warped Again`
“All of the `Love with Missiles` please, they’re so good — oh, and give me all of the the band `Casual Sex` — I might not play any of it at the dance - or I might - and I love the name — and it’s even in Japanese - so are some of the lyrics!”
“What about these - I can even spell their name in Japanese —“
“Shit - everyone knows the Ramones; I got their whole catalog.”
“These is good for Halloween — `Kurowuri-San`, `Never More Tears`, `Mother, Home I’m Going To`, and anything by `Aruiisu Ku—pa—`; very traditional Halloween music.” offered Tetsu.
Tetsu marvelled at how badly Miki was mangling the English band names and song titles. “Is this how I wrote when I came here? No wonder no one would talk to me,” he reflected.
“What do you think of starting with `Good and Bad and Ugly`?”
“Perfect,” said Tetsu — “Simply perfect - and a request?”
“What you need bro?”
“This one, for Rin and I —“
“`Tsurau—su`?”
“That’s the one — thank you.”
--
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"So much to do, so little time."
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
-
Asoko_Desu
- Posts: 230
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:30 pm
- Location: L5
Re: Two Body Problem
Still Getting the Hang of This
October 26 - Friday afternoon
“This is a bad idea — a terrible idea. I should have talked to Rin about this rather than surprise her with it.”
Tetsu sat on the side of his bed, Rin’s dress in his hands - he felt, perhaps rightly, that he’d been premature in making something so .. personal for her.
And yet — he’d set wheels in motion by enlisting Emi and Misha in his plan. He couldn’t, he realized, count on others to save him from himself - or even warn him if he was doing something stupid. Not that they wanted him to fail - they just weren’t objective enough to make that call. Feeling like a mountain climber stuck with no way up and no way down, Tetsu accepted that this was his mess to clean up, but he was not without options, challenging though they may be.
He boxed up the dress and headed out, locking his door behind him.
--
October 26 - Friday afternoon
“This is a bad idea — a terrible idea. I should have talked to Rin about this rather than surprise her with it.”
Tetsu sat on the side of his bed, Rin’s dress in his hands - he felt, perhaps rightly, that he’d been premature in making something so .. personal for her.
And yet — he’d set wheels in motion by enlisting Emi and Misha in his plan. He couldn’t, he realized, count on others to save him from himself - or even warn him if he was doing something stupid. Not that they wanted him to fail - they just weren’t objective enough to make that call. Feeling like a mountain climber stuck with no way up and no way down, Tetsu accepted that this was his mess to clean up, but he was not without options, challenging though they may be.
He boxed up the dress and headed out, locking his door behind him.
--
"So much to do, so little time."
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++
Asoko Desu's one-shots and short pieces - and assorted tie-ins.
Two Body Problem - "Adventures in the 'Emiverse'"; Emi’s path from Rin’s perspective ..
The Years That the Locusts Have Eaten - Post-Rin’s good ending - a journey through the 'Rinverse'
+++