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Stepping over your lines; Sayoko, Ryou, [open] please ask
Topic Started: Nov 8 2016, 04:33 PM (738 Views)
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"Thanks" She said with a smile and sat, down opposite of her. Even though time had passed, she was still a bit giddy after the performance before. Time and watching others having their turn at it didn't really distract her from that feeling. That charge was something that she could have gotten nowhere else.

"No, really. I'm nothing special." She was comparing herself to far more experienced, and refined amateurs and outright pros. She might have been better than average for her age, but if she wanted to actually pursue it as a career she had so much further to go. "I'm in my school's Drama Club and play roles in community theater, nothing major.

"You did pretty good yourself! Sorry that you didn't have much to do with your part." A pang of self-consciousness. Was she getting greedy there? It surely would have been more gracious to not go for the more meaty part. But she was the first one called and if given a choice well…she made her choice.

She was aware of what was going on around her. She'd caught glimpses of the awkward, gangly kid. He was on the fringes when they were on stage. And once she recognized him, it wasn't hard to see peeks of him behind the scenes when other people were up on stage.

It seemed he worked there, and he was trying very hard not to be conspicuous that he was coming to where Mia and her costar of the night had gathered. If that was his wish, she would have obligated and not drew any attention to it.

She did, however, intentionally delay something until she was sure he would have overheard. She smiled brightly at the lady over a cup of coffee graspedi n both her hands. "Sorry! It totally slipped my mind, but I'm Mia Sato! I'm a second year in Taiyoutono, pleased to meet you!"
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Miharu Yoshikuni
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Sayoko had to let out her own sheepish laugh and scratched her head.

"O-oh, why thank you! And w-well, I'm alright with only having a few lines. After all, that was my first time! Maybe next reading I'll try to expand, but haha, I think you'd conquer any other time as well, miss."

To her surprise, Ryou did eventually make his way to their table. Sayoko perked up at seeing her student immediately.

"Oh, Arakawa-san! So good to see you!" she said. "I was just admiring your lovely menu and acquainting myself with this equally lovely young lady who played as the king earlier!"

The girl had given her own name and Sayoko had nodded in acknowledgement.

"A pleasure to meet you, Sato-san. Pity you're in Taiyoutono! I happen to be a librarian, but at Reitaku instead. This here, by the way, is a student there. I take it you're not both acquainted yet, either?"
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"I'm glad you were able to make it, Sayoko-san." he added, feeling a touch relieved that Sayoko had not just recognized him but also called him out by name. Riding her happy high, Ryou managed to approximate something like a smile (though it came off as something more akin to a smirk) as he turned to face the Reitaku librarian. Immediately he was reminded of his last run-in with her at the school's library, how he'd awkwardly ambled over to Sayoko's desk, and tripped-up right before reaching it; it'd not been a good start, but Ryou had enjoyed a brief literary levity in spite of himself, and had even been wanting to engage the Reitaku librarian now that he'd actually had the time to read through her suggestion. Truly he was happy to see a familiar face among the patrons, which was an odd departure to Ryou's steppenwolf, but he still had enough of a mental hold over himself not to interrupt things between the newcomer and his acquaintance.

Speaking of which, she was .... definitely someone he didn't recognize; granted his shift was part-time and he could've just missed her if she'd come by earlier, but he was sure he'd have noticed someone who could perform as her. "Ah..." he began, surprised to find himself so timid in his approach, "It's a shame about the scene, I'd rather have liked to see more of your Robin & Oberon...-a-and..." He wasn't one to normally approach strangers and commend them for things, but he found that the performance rather warranted it... or so he told himself as he struggled with keeping his usual facade in the face of feeling something other than contempt for someone else. He managed to ignore his inner dialogue long enough to this point, up until he realized he'd not introduced himself before devolving into an awkward fangasm in front of a complete stranger, a mistake which he intended to rectify in full : "...and I seem to have forgotten my manners." he admitted in a somewhat defeated tone, as he tried desperately to compose himself.

"I -uh- I don't ... -that is- I mean..." he managed to stammer out before offering a meek bow to Mia & Sayoko, "Apologies, I didn't mean to barge into your conversation."
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Unlike the scenario that was playing out with Ryou's anxieties, in reality Mia wasn't annoyed at all by his intrusion. In fact, she was glad for the chance to actually get to talk to him. Despite everything, he didn't seem too open to people approaching him without good reason, after all.

"As you've heard, I'm Mia, pleased to meet you. I don't think you're barging in at once. I find this whole arrangement just heavenly!" She had a broad, genuine smile. "Count on seeing me again next time! Does this happen weekly? Bimonthly?"

It was a great time. And it lead to good company already. She did have a good reason to pause when the mention of where Sayako worked and how they might have otherwise known each other had she went to another school presented itself.

She could tell stories about her own school's librarian, a man who seemed to be a real giant. Very well read. Always with a boombox (a doombox they called it?) But that was a bit alienating, just mindlessly taking one subject and building off it in a 'me too.'

Much better to take an interest in what was in front of her. "Oh? You know each other from school then?" Saying Ryou looked bookish at a glance was probably making an understatement. Just up and making assumptions about people like that was dangerous.
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Miharu Yoshikuni
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"Oh, not at all, Arakawa-san!" Sayoko said in agreement with Mia. "As the saying goes, the more the merrier, right? And yes, Sato-san, he happens to be a student at Reitaku while I'm a librarian there. He invited me to come to tonight's reading, such a thoughtful boy, isn't he?"

Sayoko really did hope that Ryou didn't feel out of place. That was the last thing she would have wanted for a student in her school. However, she could perhaps understand his apprehension. After all, when she was in high school she hadn't been that much of an open book herself even if she literally opened a lot of books.

"Say, Arakawa-san, if you don't have too much work to do or you get off while we're still here, I'm sure Sato-san and I would love for some extra company. Do you have to work the whole night?"
Edited by Miharu Yoshikuni, Apr 5 2017, 12:24 PM.
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Ryou's nervous disposition seemed to soften in light of Sayoko's attempt to engage him, and soon raised his head back to eye level to meet with the newcomer to the Adyton and -probably- the only other person he thought he was on good terms with. It was odd for him, -that is- to care for how others perceived him, usually he made his intention quite clear in spite of everyone around him; it was a bit different for the Reitaku librarian, who'd shown nothing if not complete and unabashed enthusiasm for her raison d'vivre. Maybe he found a kindred spirit in Sayoko, but he'd not really allowed himself the time to sort out how he felt about the whole thing. As for Mia, she presented yet another emotion to which Ryou was unused to; was it admiration he felt? or his own feelings of inadequacy insiding themselves through the awe he felt for the brief moment?

Still somewhat in server mode, he responded to Mia's question, his tone still somewhat professional though becoming warmer as he spoke (and realized Mia was being sincere). "It's a bi-monthly affair, though the more frequent patrons & Ishikawa-san like to discuss the matter of the next play a week before the next session... that is when there's need for a change of play." he corrected in a somewhat awkward tone, clearly not quite at home with the group at that time.

Sayoko's comment to Ryou being considerate of her interests drew a subtle smile from the teen, who seemed -for a moment- only too happy to have made these known to her. "The more the merrier, indeed." he added after Sayoko, and while his mind added in the additional benefit of drawing new people to the coffeeshop, good sense prevailed and he merely archived this little factoid to himself. As per Sayoko's next question, Ryou looked about, seeing the staff had already deigned to join the festivities, and without anything to add -himself-, he offered a slight shrug before pulling up a seat closer to the table.

"It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance as well, Sato-san." he offered immediately after seating himself, in what was... probably a breach of etiquette, but as he was only too happy to accompany Mia & Sayoko, the slight didn't even cross his thoughts.
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It might have been a faux pas by the contemporary, local standards of what was regarded as good manners. But Mia was the product of a far less hidebound culture. To Mia, it wasn't rude or just not done or whatever. But it was just totally normal.

Like most people in this day and age, and of her particular age, she relied heavily on her phone. She was checking the calendar and marking down the days Ryou said. "So that means the next one's going to be at the end of the month and the meeting would be exactly a week before that?"

She looked up, making sure. In the back of her mind, it was funny. If this were a conversation in English, she might have had to ask if 'bi-monthly' was once every two months or twice in one month. There was less ambiguity saying that in her parent's native language and was kind of funny, was all. "Yeah! If it's alright with your boss, we'd love to have you!"

It was all new, and exciting and fun. At least that's how Mia was when she met people. To be honest, as time went on, more often than not, the only thing that changed was the 'new' part of that statement.
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"Yes, that would be around the end of the month," Sayoko said thoughtfully. "It'd be lovely to attend the next one as well and read again. Oh! Not that I'd want to steal the opportunity of other audience members, of course. Eheh."

Sayoko let out a small giggle.

She was glad to see that Mia was open to having Ryou take a seat with them and she did hope she could chat with him a bit. At the mention of his boss, another thought came to Sayoko's mind.

"Speaking of your boss, is he here by any chance? I'd love to extol his efforts in putting up such a lovely little place with readings like this every night."
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"Well, the staff have more or less joined in..." he began to explain, in a desperate bid to justify his presence here, his still-incumbent inner self still seemed to want to hover around Sayoko & Mia's conversation. He chuckled nervously, bringing up a hand behind his neck before his 'inner-guardsman' caught him in the midst of that gesture. He brought it down to his side, with a look that resembled that of a scolded puppy's. All of this awkwardness was very new to him, who'd gone most of his life without giving people the time of day, to suddenly devote attention to someone other than himself was as vexing a transition as his nightly ventures into the ruins. It was something that'd come out of nowhere, given no time for him to adjust, and... something he needed to do. "-Ah- Sayoko-san, I've also finished reading through the book I checked out; it seemed to hit the spot, have you got another recommendation? I've been a bit peckish for things alluding to, or including supernatural stuff lately."

Sayoko spoke up regarding Ishikawa-san, to which Ryou replied, though more out of want to change the subject than to provide an answer; "Yes, he should be 'round the back with the regular patrons, shall I go fetch him?" as he said that, he also began to stand, showing a touch more eagerness than he'd have wanted. Gawd he was a mess tonight, but then again, maybe a bit of distance would help him clear his mind? The gaggle of voices in his mind wasn't up to their usual tricks, and without any given direction he could only default to his instincts, however unhoned they were. The thing is, his usual response to things was... generally, quite aggravating to others; not wanting to antagonize someone he considered a friend, as well as someone who didn't deserve such treatment was what kept him in check.
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You can learn a lot about a person if you just quietly watch them for a bit. People's tics and how they carried themselves or said a word said a lot about them. Who they were, what they considered important. Some people were easier to tell than others. Sayako's bubbly cheerfulness was mainly 'what you see is what you get.' and she had an appetite to match her gregariousness. As for Ryou? Well…

He was kind of forcing himself to be social. He clearly wanted to talk and socialize and have a good time in this particular venue, but how awkwardly he was carrying himself spoke volumes about how rare that was for him. She held up her hands and smiled patiently before he was off like a shot. "Nah, not yet at least. I'd love to speak to him and thank him for having a venue for such a lovely evening too, but that can wait in due time!" He was a little jumpy. They had to find a comfort zone for him. Even if that area might have been roughly the size of a pin's head.

But there was a door to the comforting and familiar right there! Mia smiled brightly and put her hands in her lap as she asked. "Oh? Which book in particular? I've always loved a good story!" Yeah, that would have kept things nice and level, or so she hoped, at least.
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