compyuutah | standing in the middle of roads upon arrival is becoming tradition

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standing in the middle of roads upon arrival is becoming tradition

[Funny, how your life can change in an instant. Baroona had already experienced it enough. Twice recently–both arrivals to the City. But after a year he had assumed he was stuck there. A permanent fixture in a futuristic city he had only just started to get used to.

He was wrong.

From laying in the park to sitting up in a dirtied alleyway, the change was instantaneous. A quick look around guarantees that he's alone, allows for a moment of panic. Check to make sure everything is still here: knives, cigarettes, lighter, clothes... translator? Baroona stares down at it curiously, it's presence oddly comforting in his hand. He keeps it there and stands, listening and looking.

It looks like the City. There's a thick crowd at the end of the alleyway and brightly colored balloons passing by overhead. He recognizes it from the City. A parade? Maybe. It's certainly noisy enough.

This isn't going to be fun.

With a sigh, he presses forward anyway, slipping through and around people, taking himself to the front. People glare as he pushes past but get distracted before there's any issues. A float passes by. Baroona regards it plainly. Definitely a parade. What a pain.

Looking past the floats and balloons, Baroona studies the buildings, looks for something familiar. But familiarity is hard to spot when everything looked foreign in the first place. It's hard to tell. A quirk of a frown pulls at his lips as he moves towards another tactic. He fits the translator into his ear, and pushes it on.

At first, all goes well. The strange language being spoken around him gets translated. Yeah, I'm– and then cut off. Static fills his ears instead, loud and merciless. Baroona bows forward, clutching his ear with a wince. The people around him notice and give him space but he can't tell. The static changes to feedback-a high-pitched scream drilling into his head. He winces again and stumbles forward, into the parade and in front of the float. Still, Baroona doesn't notice. Not until the translator is out of his ear and thrown on the ground does he even look up, shoulders slumping.

The people on the float look down at him, shocked. The parade comes to a temporary halt. Security closes in on him from all sides and people shout foreign words from the sidelines. But all Baroona can hear is his own breath as he looks over the float as a thought occurs to him.

He has no idea where he is.]

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[Mikoto jumps, startled out of...fairly questionable thoughts about making him go zettai ryouiki along with the glasses. And maybe even pigtail----yeah, it gets more awful from there.

She rolls her eyes, making a soft 'pssh' noise.]

Now why the heck would I do that? [DON'T FLATTER YOURSELF. Well, no, she's two steps ahead of the game there.] What do you take me for, a pervert? But since you're so impatient, let's go to the mall.

[She pauses in the middle of walking ahead of him.

Oh.

There is the matter of public transportation.

Mikoto groans.]

....You'd rather walk, wouldn't you?

[She's getting such a disbelieving look when she disregards his accusation. He can feel your suspicious thoughts, Mikoto and he's beginning to feel a sense of dread in his stomach. Still, he follows her anyway. Which means he stops short when she does.]

I'm not stepping foot on anything else.

[FIRMLY SAID. And hoping she doesn't get the idea to drug him like Tom did.]

Walking's fine.

[Seriously, Baroona?

Seriously?

(ALSO SHUT UP HER THOUGHTS ARE PERFECTLY INNOCENT OK...well, as innocent as imagining a boy crossdressing can possibly get. Which is a whole other hot-button debate in itself.)

Mikoto throws up her hands in defeat. Cool your jets, Miss Daisy.]

Alright, alright. God, you are so lucky I don't dislike you, Baroona.

[She runs a hand through her hair, and covertly sends the following text message to one Saten Ruiko while making as if she's checking the time---]

what style would go good with glasses?

[If only because it's Saten who's the otaku, not her.]

What's that supposed to mean?

[Said with one raised brow as he closes the gap between them, trying to peek over her shoulder at what she's writing. Curiosity killed the cat.]

Who are you talking to?

Uh...exactly what I said.

[COME ON, NOW. Mikoto, upon sensing his approach, smoothly puts her phone down. Tosses him a feigned nonchalant look.]

It's just Kuroko worrying again. Nothing important.

[Though, she makes sure to also covertly put her cell phone on vibrate, with the press of a button.

Have fun uncovering the mysteries of modern technology, Sherlock.]

I thought you said she was trouble.

[With suspicion, he watches Mikoto put it away though his interest evaporates once its out of site. He lights another cigarette because I forget if he was already smoking one, yolo.]

Should we get going?

She is, but she's also my friend. She's being dumb about it, but she's just worried.

[Mikoto looks fairly sheepish when she says that last bit, scratching her chin. Kuroko was a monumental pain in the tuchus at times (well, 98.76% of the time, for accuracy's sake), but she was always there for Mikoto, no matter what. She went through pains to have her back and support her---and in all honesty? Mikoto couldn't ask for a better friend.

Even if that friend sexually harrassed her, but it wasn't as if Mikoto couldn't defend herself.

When she catches a whiff of the cig as they exit the alleyway back into the sidewalk, Mikoto shoots Baroona a pointed look.

And that's when her cell phone goes off. Perfect timing...!] Oh, and Baroona---while I don't care if you smoke, the authorities here do, especially since we're out here in the open again and they'll get on you stat if they detect the smoke. Put that out.

[There's almost an audible record scratch that shakes through the air when she says that. Baroona stops short, staring at her with a mixture of horror and anger.]

What?

[Mikoto sighs loudly and grunts.

Yet another hurdle she's going to have to make her way past. As if getting him to go along with her (hare-brained) plan wasn't difficult enough...

ALSO, SHE HAS A TEXT TO READ. IT IS VERY URGENT.]

Well, obviously, it's bad for you, and most people here are underage. So...they don't allow smoking, except in certain designated spots, but... [She huffs. The very last thing she needed was him getting into brawls with more undesirables, so she really can't believe she's telling him all of this---

---But then again, she doesn't want him to feel anymore caged in than he probably felt already.] ...You're gonna have to deal with thugs.

[A beat.]

And some of them have powers, too.

[He grunts in amusement, making no signs to put out his cigarette.]

I can deal with them.

[Powers or no. That was how the City had been, wasn't it? There wasn't much difference. More importantly:]

I'm going to smoke.

[No arguments.]

[Mikoto simply groans and slaps her forehead, but...well, in his case, she knows better than to get between a man and his smokes. And since ne'er-do-wells around here had a surprisingly large population...

...She supposed she could compromise, but...considering they're reaching the mall, and people are looking at Baroona funny, she still has to put her foot down.] Just save some idiots for me, okay? But, I'm serious! We're headed indoors! You can smoke lat---

["Smoke detected"----

Mikoto lets out a growl.

God

dammit. She tosses Baroona her worst look. Honestly, she wasn't prepared to live the Thug Life™ this early!] Go in! Now!

[Baroona gives her a look but throws her a dime–stomping out his cigarette before darting inside. The automatic doors still freak him out, though not as much as the scope of the mall they walk into. Gigantic and sprawling, he stands in the lobby dumbfounded and with people staring. Ignoring the people, he looks towards the lights, fluorescent and mind-numbing, glittering off the sleek metallic surfaces everywhere. He looks to his most despised–the escalators that have single-handedly taken the place of stairs and a twin shaft of elevators, dinging and opening incessantly. With an almost worried expression, he glances back towards Mikoto.

Help.]

[Just as she's about to dart right in after him, Mikoto takes a peek at her phone (finally), and scans the following message from Saten:]

sweet lolita if you wanna be daring but i'd just stick with stuff that's preppy and simple!! :> what's up? giving someone a makeover?

[Mikoto has to stifle a laugh as she quickly puts her phone away, but that quickly dies down the moment she sees Baroona standing rather rigidly a few steps away, looking fairly panicked. Her snort morphs into a small groan.

Soooo...first public transportation, and now modern establishments.

What luck. You know, if he wasn't an important person in her life...]

......We're going to have to stick to the ground floor, aren't we?

[He can hear the exasperation in her voice and he throws a stubborn glance back.]

I'm fine.

[Said maybe a bit too stiffly. He turns back towards the escalators, reluctantly walking towards them. Occasionally glancing back just to make sure Mikoto is following him–especially when he freezes at the base. Then it's just a back and forth between her and the steps sliding out and up, their teeth jutting out like fangs. Baroona clutches the railing for support, noticing that it moved a moment to late. It drags him forward and he stumbles onto the escalator, freezing once he's regained his balance and death-gripping the stupid moving railing as he looks down at Mikoto, terrified.]

[Oh, she's following him, if only to prevent today's installment of When Doing It Wrong Goes.....Wrong from going any further south, undertaking the directorial duties of one, trying not to facepalm and two, ignoring the bewildered stares of shoppers, including a little boy's exclamation of, "wow, that looks fun!" (it doesn't) as he stares in awe at Baroona gripping onto that railing Bond-style as she practically bounds her way up the escalator to catch up to him.

She sighs.]

You could've waited for me to get on it with you, you know. And you can do that with one hand. You're not going to fall.

It's shaking.

[With a glare, he wobbles a bit on his step as demonstration. He has every reason to remain clutching for dear life on this death trap, excuse you.

Still, the torture ends soon enough as the steps rise and flatten out. Baroona gingerly steps off, visibly relaxing at the solidity of the ground.]

You never told me your world hated stairs.

[And cigarettes. And everything else he enjoys. Can you tell he's cranky?]

Going up stairs takes too long for most people. [Just be glad she's not, say, a speedster like Bart. Then Baroona would really be in for a hell of a joyride before he'd even realize it.

Oh, and nevermind Kuroko's teleporting...that was sometimes terrifying even for Mikoto. Meanwhile, she casts him an exasperated look. Keep your fanny pack on, mister.] Besides, this is no different from the City! Everything there was automatic, too---

[As they pass by a bookstore, however, Mikoto's eyes suddenly widen, and she sharply turns her head.]

[Baroona stops short, almost thankful for the interruption. At least now, he won't have to explain to her the glaringly obvious ways in which it's different from the city. He half-turns towards her.]

What is it?

---Uh, what?

[Mikoto turns around distractedly, her eyes alight with something that appears to be glee and her face slightly flushed pink.

Oh. He...wasn't aware of that, was he...Mikoto's eyes briefly flick back toward the sign on the bookstore's front window advertising Gekota stationery, her equally odd smile turning crooked.

Yeah...no. Too embarrassing. He'd never let her live that down. It was bad enough Bart had found out about her infatuation with froggy merchandise (while he hadn't made fun of her, he certainly wouldn't stop asking questions. Baroona? He'd make fun of her. And probably ask questions.). So, she rather hastily walks onward, shrugging as nonchalantly as she can muster (but that pen...!).]

Ah, it's nothing. Let's...let's go get that new wig first!

[Sure, Mikoto.

Suuuuure.]

It's not nothing.

[He shoots her an odd look before looking over her shoulder.]

You were looking at something over there.

[What is it. Baroona can see it but not exactly what it is. Curiosity (and a small desire for revenge) takes over. He pushes past Mikoto to go look.]

I-I---

[Mikoto's eye twitches. GODDAMN does he have friggin' ultra vision?! She swiftly moves next to him, looking toward the bookstore again, but taking care not to look at the Gekota advertisement---but for a fleeting moment, her eyes stray toward at it, and there's a weird look of longing on her face---instead, she just looks in its general direction, trying to lend the impression that she did see something, but not what he would think she's looking at.

If that even makes sense.

(It probably doesn't.)]

---I was just thinking about a comic I wanted to get!

[YEAH. THAT'S IT. Perfect. Mikoto throws her arms behind her back as she turns away from the storefront once more.]

But, I figured, you know...I could get it later. By myself.

[Which she is rather quick to add, mind.]

[NOT BUYING IT. Baroona gives her a weird look, before turning back towards the shop.]

That doesn't make sense. We're here now.

[Walking back towards the store, he–finally–notices something. The frog thing. Hadn't he seen that on her when they first met? Or maybe another time. Baroona pauses, stopping in his tracks and looking back, jabbing a finger out at the display.]

Is it that?

L-look, it's really---

[Mikoto lets out a strangled squeak the moment she follows his finger and realizes he's...well...he's right on target.

In other words: busted. Nevermind that he seems to have the memory of an elephant when it comes to her. Defiantly curling her fist around her cell phone in a last-ditch effort to salvage her dignity (as her Gekota strap is present and accounted for, speaking of which), her lips curl into a rather frightful combination of smarmy smirk and embarrassed snarl, while turning a slight pink.

Dammit, he's discovered her number-one weakness. She scoffs, crossing her arms and smirk-snarling off to the side.]

And what if it is? You think it's weird or something? Well, I have one word for you---whatever.

[Actually no it does matter

But cool guys don't look at explosions ok.]

[Weird was the escalator they just got off. Mikoto liking a dumb... whatever that was supposed to be?

Baroona blinks back at her.] It's cute.

[And, with that settles. Moves back to the merchandise, picking up one of them quizzically.] What is this supposed to be?

[Curiosity killed the cat, didn't you know....

...Well actually it outright slaughtered Mikoto's pride. She hangs her head, fighting the darkening blush on her face.]

It's...a frog. Gekota.

[But she looks up again and---crap, her hands are just itching to hold that one pen, oh---

WHAT MORE HAS SHE GOT TO LOSE.....moving awfully quickly, Mikoto goes over to the little kiosk and picks up said pen, poking the little Gekota figurine adorning the end of it, squinting her eyes, but her lips are resisting a grin.]

I, uh, collect his stuff. [She closes her eyes, forcing herself to appear prim and nonchalant.] On occasion.

[Mikoto pls.]

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