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 Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 9:52 pm
'Where's yours, Utena?' Wakaba had asked, knowing perfectly well they'd be placed together. Requesters always got their dorms and Wakaba had made sure their request was in first. So when they'd switched information both were aghast at the fact it had not matched.
It had gone well, however, because Utena had not seen hide nor hair of Anthy Himemiya and there was no talk of the Rose Bride, or the duels. The student council members had made no appearance as well. This was all turning out to have been a very strange dream and for that Utena was thankful.
"Nyaah, this is a long way out here," Utena muttered to herself, watching the trees fade away into the great looming figure of cliff-rock. A few scraggly brushes clung to the sides, their twigs intertwining and blocking off several paths that daring youth might think to take.
No one, Utena mused with a frown, was anywhere to be seen. "Desolate, too." If she wasn't a prince, she'd have found it all extremely spooky. The earth fell away beneath her feet to produce the unearthly echo of hoof against rock. She enetered a cave, faintly lit by the glowing of some sort of posphoresent light. Probably captured lightflyers. They made a green spark like that.
Up, up, around several corners until at last she reached the doorway to a spacious room. Her own name was engraved carefully into an outjutting rock and beneath it a rather crappy inscription that was cleary scratched there with a claw read, to her dismay, 'Anthy Himemiya'.
Well s**t.
She sighed and pushed her head through a drapery of Zrun fur to examine the contents of her new 'home.'
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Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:08 pm
A stack of dirty bowls rested atop the counter beside said basin, and to these the Rose Bride turned her attention. Carefully setting a few in the basin, she pulled water from its source in the wall, and forcefully cleaned each dish in the basin. Nothing in the room had been touched for ages, and she wanted to ensure that the bowls were as spotless as everything else, especially since they'd be eating from them. Dirty dishes simply wouldn't do. Satisfied that the dishes were clean, she carefully lifted them and, easily pulling off as many droplets of water as she could, she placed them in a stack on one of the shelves, then repeated this process with the rest of the bowls.
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Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:20 pm
As she had predicted it was simply larger and fancier than her previous, but much the same make up. Only this time, there was a rather unfortunate guest there with her. Not to say that Utena didn't like the girl - she was as likeable as any other - but she was not fond of what she brought along with her.
Utena gaped.
The room was dazzling. She couldn't have done a better job if she'd rubbed to the bottom of her hooves. Not to mention. . .
"You did this all on your own?" Her eyes were still wide in shock and she stood in the doorway rather transfixed. The flap was halfway down her back, her eyes meandering over the sparkling contents of her room.
"I could have helped, if I'd known." But she'd only just gotten her dorm assignment a little while ago. How had Anthy gotten done so fast?
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Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:49 pm
"I did most of it last night," she confessed as she stacked another succession of now sparkling clean bowls upon a shelf. She began to clean the last few, and again pulled the excess water from them before creating another stack beside the rest to place the clean bowls. "I'll be done shortly, Miss Utena."
As she said this, she pushed the dirty cloth into the basin and pulled more water from the wall, and swiftly began cleaning the rag as best as possible, pulling all the soiled water from it and instead soaking it with fresh, clean water. That done, she pulled the water-soaked rag up and placed it on the counter, and began to clean it once more. The dirty bowls had been on it, and that was reason enough to run it over once again with the cleaning rag. Using her water-controlling abilities instead of her nose or mouth to move the cloth (as she couldn't very well manage to put her hooves up there, honestly.), she swiftly cleaned the entire counter again, and left the cloth on the side of the basin. She turned to the slender Ichsa with her well-practiced smile, bowing her head respectfully. "Tea, Miss Utena?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:53 pm
Utena was floored by this bit of information.
"But we only just got our dorm assignments!" This, like the rest of the school, made absolutely no sense. Still, she felt horrendously guilty for not having helped. All that cleaning had to have made the girl tired, and yet she was still working. Then offering her tea of all things.
"Himemiya, let me make the tea. You must be exhausted." She was frowning. Why did that poor soul work herself so hard?
Oh, right. Rose Bride. What a bunch of hoolabaloogey.
Before Anthy could protest, Utena had picked up a bowl and dipped it into the basin. Honestly, she really could make her own tea!
"Make yourself at home," Utena piped cheerily between clamped teeth. She'd make up for her lackings last night. Wait, this was her home. "Oh. . . er, I guess you knew that." She laughed nervously and ended up dropping the bowl on her front hooves.
Well snap! "Oh man, I'm clumsy tonight."
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Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 11:00 pm
"Us receiving the same dorm is no coincidence, Miss Utena," Anthy explained as she swiftly picked up the bowl and set it in the basin, turning to grab two more to place on the table as she prepared to make the tea, despite Utena insisting she should do it. She pulled water from the wall and spilled it into the bowl while she turned, pulling several tea leaves off another shelf and placing a couple into each bowl on the table. "You must be tired after such a long day at school."
She didn't even think of how tired she was, let alone realized it.
The now-steaming water in the bowl sitting in the basin was swiftly pulled out and it soared overhead, splitting in two as before and pouring into each bowl on the table. That done, she pulled the water in circles to stir it, waiting until all the color and flavor had seeped out of the spent leaves before pulling them out. She pulled the excess water from them before grasping them in her mouth gently and turning to place them on the counter. "The tea is ready, Miss Utena," she said with her picture-perfect smile, not noticing that one of the bowls seemed to be trembling and shaking ever so slightly, and not by itself.
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Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 12:04 pm
Maybe this was a prank they played on choice new students. She certainly stood out, it wasn't unfathomable that it was just something they did to get their kicks.
She sighed as Anthy swept away her sad attempt. Beaten, she made her way over to the marbled slab of rock, staring idly at the patterns there. There was just no convincing this girl that she needn't make tea.
Utena smiled gently as Anthy finished and proclaimed that she had done so. "Thank You, Himemiya."
Utena lowered her head to drink, only to stop and stare at the rotating bowl. She thought it might be Anthy, but she was just standing there, smiling gently. Unless she was trying to throw Utena for a loop?
"Uh. . . Himemiya?" she asked carefully, jerking her head towards the moving bowl.
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Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 3:44 pm
Well, at least Utena hadn't put up any more resistance to her making tea. It was, after all, the least she could do for her pink-maned engaged. She stepped over to the opposite side of the table with her picture-perfect, well-practiced and ceaseless smile, ears swiveled forward to catch any and all sounds from the other mare. "You're quite welcome, Miss Utena," the purple-maned Reya said with a polite bow of her head.
However, upon the pink prince's question of the self-moving bowl, she merely continued smiling. "That's just ChuChu."
A large-eared creature poked its head over the edge of Utena's bowl, staring at her intently. It suddenly squeaked, "Chuu!" before scurrying off behind Anthy's bowl. It had obviously made some sort of attempt to hide, but its long tail was poking out from behind the bowl of tea and had started twitching.
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Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 3:52 pm
Utena watched as the creature examined her over. It was . . . almost cute. When it squeaked, Utena grinned and chuckled lightly.
"Chuchu," she repeated the name, loving how fun it was to say. She watched it scurry away and then plucked a small flower from the ground next to her.
She offered it up to the creature, and spoke to Anthy through her teeth.
"Do you live with Himemiya, Chuchu?" Her smile broadened as she noticed the tail poke out from behind the bowl.
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Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 4:01 pm
Anthy merely watched with her smile still plastered to her face.
"Chuu?" He poked his round head out from behind the bowl, his tail twitching and visible over the rim. He studied the flower carefully for a moment or two before scurrying out, snatching it quickly, and devouring it in a matter of moments.
"Chuuuu!" He exclaimed once he'd finished before skittering over towards Utena, tail twitching ceaselessly, and waved a tiny arm at her. "Chu, chu! Chuchuuu!"
The Rose Bride looked on and, though her external features did not change at all, she was mildly surprised at the tiny monkey's behavior. "I've never seen ChuChu take to someone so quickly before, Miss Utena."
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Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 4:16 pm
Utena laughed at his behavior. Well you know, all animals liked food. This one just especially liked food. Flowers, quite obviously - or maybe that just happened to be what was around and therefore edible.
"Oh you do? I see. You must be a very well mannered, then," she commented to him lightly.
Were pets even allowed at school? Eh, the rules were probably tweaked. She was beginning to wonder if there really were rules at this school.
"Its nice to meet you, Chuchu." She paused to think, her eyes scanning around their more brightly lit room. The green had been understandable, but she'd never seen such colors of lightflyers before, if that's what it was hovering at the ceiling.
"Ten years, huh? What a lonely place this will be without friends nearby. . ."
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Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 4:27 pm
The orange mare smiled, swishing her lengthy purple tail. "ChuChu is my friend," she explained. "He's the only friend I need."
"Chuuu!" The little purple thing exclaimed proudly, flexing his tiny arms and striking random poses while his tail twitched. After several moments of unbalanced poses he lost his balance, and toppled over with another squeak. "Chuuu-uu!"
Anthy smiled and gently nosed her bowl of tea closer to the little monkey. He always managed to fall over somehow.
"Chu?" The purple monkey questioned as he stared up at Anthy upside-down. He studied the bowl for a moment or two before jumping up and diving towards the offered tea, and ended up stuffing almost his entire head into the bowl. "Chgguwuuu~"
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Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 4:33 pm
"Oh!" Utena exclaimed, a bit ashamed. "He can be my friend, too, then." She'd never heard of having anyone but a Nequus for a friend before, but Himemiya surely should have more friends than this? Even she wouldn't do with just one.
A snort escaped her mouth before she could stop herself. That had been far too humorous.
"Oop, Chuchu!" she protested at the head-diving familiar. She spotted Anthy looking at it, and there was something in that smile she couldn't quite place.
"You'll have lots of friends by the end of the year, I'm sure," Utena piped merily. If a monkey could do that for Anthy, imagine what a pluther of them could do? "I know!" Her face brightened with her newfound idea. "I'll introduce you to Wakaba tomorrow. You'll get along nicely." If they got along at all. . .
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Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 4:59 pm
"Chuu..?" Utena had said she'd be his friend, too. She'd given him food, and that was as good as a friend could get. With an excited squeak, the purple monkey -- so sophisticated-looking, what with the tea dribbling down his chin -- scurried over and jumped to Utena's back, and swiftly clambered up to the top of her head. "Chuuuu-uu!" And with that, he began exploring; wrapping his tail around her spiraling horn, he clambered here and there, looking under random bits of mane and forelock before sliding down her forehead to peer at at least one eye upside-down. "Chuu?"
The rose-adorned mare continued to smile as she watched ChuChu's antics, though she dipped her head at one point to sip at some of her now half-gone tea. She lifted her head again and smiled once more, ears perked forward. "ChuChu is the only friend I need," she repeated, in case Utena hadn't heard her the first time she'd said it. She blinked, still smiling, when her engaged offered to introduce her to Wakaba. "If you think so, Miss Utena.
ChuChu scrambled over and peered into Utena's other eye. "Chuu?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:11 pm
Utena was a little shocked when the monkey leapt onto her back, but her flinch quickly turned back into a smile.
"Do you like it up there? Is my hair very comfortable?" She'd gone cross-eyed looking at the creature, and her feature's contorted even more so when ChuChu hung upside down in front of her eye.
Yesterday, she wouldn't have talked to a pet.
"Huh?" her smile vanished when Anthy spoke, replaced by a confused expression. "Well, if you don't want to, you don't have to." This submissive behavior was going to take a lot of getting used to.
She chuckled and squinted as the animal climbed over her forhead to get to the other side. "Do they match?"
She was talking to a pet-friend, now. Oh my.
Still grinning lightly at Chuchu she dipped her head down to take a drink of the tea, hoping the creature would not fall into the bowl's contents. She didn't think that his fur would taste terribly good.
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