I Won't Say I'm In...

I Won't Say I'm In...
Date of Scene:	07 October 2012
Location:	Fluorgis
Synopsis:	Following her musical number, Shiki makes some more confessions to Reize.
Cast of Characters:	Shiki Misaki, Reize Seatlan

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Shiki Misaki has posed:
It's still bar time in Fluorgis!

Shiki's shaved ice is going to melt because she's gone outside to do that one thing everyone has to do at some point in their life;

Have a spontaneous musical number.

http://finalkingdom.net/wiki/index.php/Just_A_Little_Crush%3F

That said. We don't know when Reize followed her out... and we don't know how much of this Reize is standing there and listening in on.

Let's find out.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
It is probably a good thing that Reize was not out there during the time. Admittedly, he was still trying to get over the fact that he caught cooties from Lenn.
Ugh.
After the discussion with the group, they came to a conclusion of looking for jobs and tasks.
Emerging from the tavern, Reize is making his way out, looking for Shiki.
"Oooooooiii! Shiki!" The boy looks from the left and to the right. He scratches his head, then he shifts about. "Shiikiii!" He grumbles, exhaling a sigh, "This city is too big at times."
Then, he makes his way over to the fountain, then he brightens, "Oii! Shiki! There you are!"
On his head is Mr. Mew, who the boy decided to take with him to find Shiki.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Shiki Misaki sighs. Oh, well, it's not as if 'me time' was going to solve any of her problems anyway.

She takes a step over to Reize and picks Mr. Mew up off of his head, holding him in her arms again. He seems a lot less animate when he does so.

"It's a good thing I didn't go too far. You probably would have gotten lost in the marketplace if I did," she says, although her voice has a lot less of its usual energy.

"I hope you didn't fall over onto anyone, either?"

Reize Seatlan has posed:
His antenna hair flops a bit, the boy grit his teeth while he mutters, "Bah! I would have found my way eventually." He rubs his forehead, then he twitches at the falling over comment. "Guh... don't remind me." He places a hand over to his face.
Blargggh, cooties. Now he will be bedridden, unable to adventure! What a crappy way to spend the next few days!
Nevertheless, Reize looks towards Shiki, a frown coming up, "..Hey, are you alright..?" He quirks an eyebrow, "...You don't seem like yourself."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Shiki Misaki makes a quiet, wordless sound in the back of her mouth.

"You're still such a kid, aren't you?" she not-replies, looking off to the side and not at him, even a little. "I mean, I should have figured it out sooner... what am I going to do with you?"

She hugs Mr. Mew even closer to herself. "Huh. Don't seem like myself. That's a good one..."

Again, as she says this she looks into another still patch of water. She's suddenly realising Fluorgis is full of reflective surfaces.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
For the most part, Reize is confused. Of course, he's confused about so many things. Though, he does feel something pang in him. He isn't sure what that feeling is.
Even, despite of the fact that she is still noting of him being a kid.
Reize reaches over to place his hand towards Shiki's shoulder.
A glance is given to her.
"Shiki." A frown is given, "...Talk to me. We've gotten this far..." A smile is given towards her.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Except this time, Shiki shifts her shoulders back and forth, trying to move the hand off. It's almost as if she's suddenly become acutely uncomfortable in her own skin, which is probably entirely what's happened, actually.

She looks up again. The stars, although there are never as many of them as there used to be, are coming out.

She doesn't /want/ to talk about it, honestly, but she think that a person like Reize won't take no for an answer.

So she sits down next to a waterfall basin, and expects Reize to do likewise.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
That is the thing about Reize. He may be a bit bumbling, he may be a bit lost, and he even has the habit of being unfortunate. If there is one thing about him, it is his compassion. He is not going to stop until she opens up.
She opened up a lot to him before this time.
He's not going to let her close up on him now.
When she takes a seat next to the basin, Reize soon joins her. His hands rest on his lap, his attention is brought upon her.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"You say 'talk to me', and you know it's a big thing, but you were fine with saying weird things back there in the bar. I don't want to have to say, every time, what things I tell you about- when it looks like we're falling onto the train tracks- are OK to repeat to people or not..."

Or to put it another way, if I say something to you when I'm deathly stressed, usually /none/ of it is OK to reiterate over dinner.

"A girl's feelings tend to go all over the place when they're put in situations like we ended up in over the last couple of weeks, you know, right?"

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Headscratches.
"...You never explained what a harem was." The boy grunts, "If you had told me that it was folks that had cooties and can contract it to people, I would had been not asked." He scratches his head. He still doesn't quite get that part, but the fact that it's related to his arch nemesis is good enough for him. "Didn't think harem would be that big of a deal."
THE BANE OF HIS EXISTENCE!
"...But you know, some of the other stuff you have told me, the really important things, I have kept between us." He does bring his legs together, "...Those important things haven't left me." A faint smile is given, "...And won't give up what I said I would do." Help you find your second chance.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"Ugh! It's not even that! It's a bunch of slave girls that have to dress up and wait on whoever owns them for the rest of their life! There's probably some back alley in a fantasy place like this where people buy and sell pretty girls like mm, mn, mhhhhf ugh... 'me'."

She looks wildly off into the distance and points at a random building. "I don't know whether that or being breakfast for a dragon would be worse."

"But I guess worse than either of those things... is lying to you. Maybe. I don't know, I don't even know."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Blink.
A frown is given. So. It's slave girls that dress up and wait on whoever owns them. Reize frowns pretty big. It's enough to draw a disgusted look in him. It is rather dehumanizing, in a way. To think, that is the true meaning of a harem.
"..Nggh." He looks over towards Shiki, "...I'm sorry, Shiki. I didn't realize..." He furrows his eyebrows, "...a worse way to live."
While Shiki considers the worse of the fate and even them failing to be as bad as lying, well...
Well, Reize already has cooties thanks to Lenn.
Goodbye being able to adventure for a day or so.
He leans over to give Shiki a hug.
"Remember, Shiki. We're friends. And I won't abandon you."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Well let's just get out there and say it.

"My entry fee for the Reaper's Game was my identity," Shiki says to Reize.

"The body that I'm... pretty much wearing now... it's not mine. It's not the body I was born in. It belongs to someone else, someone much prettier and more confident and better than me."

Once again, she's holding her player pin, although right now her fingers are clutching it so hard it would probably bend if it were a tin pin.

"I don't understand how it works. Probably just another sick joke of the Reapers', making me look just like someone I can never match up to. And now Shibuya's been vaped and they're all as good as erased, I guess I'm stuck this way."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
The revelation comes.
The entry fee was her identity. It slowly starts to make sense now, realizing something from a while back when they camped at the woods. His eyes fall over on Shiki.
It becomes a gaze when he starts to realize something.
That girl in the picture.
"...Shiki." He pauses, "Was the one in the picture you...?" A faint smile is given, then he places his hand towards her shoulder. "...You won't be stuck this way." He narrows his eyes, "We'll find a way to return you.." He then smiles at her, "And you can get your second chance."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Uwaahh! That's not what Shiki wanted to /hear/!

She said it as bluntly and as hard on herself as possible! Subconciously, she was trying to sabotage herself. I want you to see I'm a fake person, Reize. That I'm ugly inside, that I'm not a pretty girl at all, that I'm just a fake and I'm no good. And what does he do?

"How can you be so..."

How can he just accept all of that without batting an eye? She can't even respond to his question about the picture, although it should be obvious. "Yeah, the speccy little nerd with unremarkable hair and bad skin, that's me. Heck, how is something like /that/ even 'precious'?" she snaps again, doing her best to do anything to /make Reize dislike her/. Even a /little/.

So she doesn't have to like him back so much.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Reize isn't sure of Shiki's motivations. He isn't sure why? At least, Reize has an idea of the motivations. He brings both arms behind his head, his eyes lifting up to the sky.
"...Many of us have different motivations for what we did and why we did it." His attention does drift towards Shiki, "However..."
"I'm not the smartest guy." He rubs the back of his head, "I don't know many of the fancy things. ...I don't know anything about the outside world or people or harems." He shakes his head, "I'm just a country kid in a small village that is in the middle of nowhere. No one would likely find it in the map."
"But.. I do see the value in people." He looks at Shiki, "That 'speccy little nerd wth unremarkable hair and bad skin'" he uses Shiki's words, "Is a wonderful friend who is very knowledgeable of the world..." He brightens to a smile, "...who is very adaptable when times get tough, and she knows how to direct a friend to where he needs to go when he gets lost."
A smile brightens, "Knight's Vow #56: Every person is a special person. No one will be the same. Even if they do consider themselves as such, they have a gift that no other person has."
Then he grins, "And you have the gift of stitching my things together and you even made Mr. Mew."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
OK, you know what, screw it.

Shiki hasn't got an answer to that.

Also, she's fed up of thinking. She's had three weeks of trauma and loss and horror. She suddenly, wildly, doesn't care about /anything/. She doesn't care because she could die tomorrow! Right here, in this second, she wants something to make her feel good.

So she just leans over and kisses Reize on the cheek.

"By the way, cooties aren't real."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
That was essentially how Reize felt about the situation. He knows that Shiki needs a friend. In fact, she needs strong support. That is why the Shard Seekers are here.
...All of the Shard Seekers need each other. It's an avenue. Despite of it all, Reize has a good feeling abou----...
She leans over to kiss him.
 !!!
First reaction? Panic.
"ARRGH I NOW GO--huh?" The boy scratches his had, looking at Shiki in shock. "It's not? But the stories that all of the guys and I talked about.... It had been passed down from boy to men... to boys and girls... the horrible tale of cooties... where it is the worst fate for would-be adventurers, rendering them unable to adventure!"
"And... it's not real?"

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"It's not actually real, you'll learn that when you start figuring out what those weird feelings you have for girls really mean."

And then Shiki opens her mouth to say something else, thinks better of it, and runs off.

She's probably gone to find the base Ivo rented or something.

Or to stand somewhere far away and go have paroxysms of girlishness somewhere Reize can't hear.