[ so guess who got an emergency makeover?? it's futaba! she looks a little stressed but luckily the insistence on "clothes you can run away in" meant she's not As dolled up as one could get. thanks manwol.
but fleeing early means now she's stuck waiting and thinking and waiting and- if something doesn't happen in the next 5 minutes she's throwing herself into the moat ]
[Denji, who had already thought Futaba was cute, is taken out for a few solid seconds when he sees her waiting there and his reaction is very visible but then he recovers somewhat and walks up with as much of a casual, relaxed air as he can]
Hey!
Was kinda thinkin' Taichi was just tryin' to trick me, but wow you're here!
[at Taichi's insistence, he's a bit dressed up, wearing a nice jacket over his suit from formal, his hair somewhat tamed—there's still a trace of blush as he stands a respectful distance away
I'm also laughing because Denji would have been an hour or two early from nervous excitement, so just imagining that this is happening like, way before their agreed upon time to meet up]
[ I'm in more tears. somehow their date now starts two hours earlier.
but the real secret is her legs have been paralyzed in fear for the past fifteen minutes. sometimes? you run away to escape well meaning aunties? but then end up giving yourself Too Much Time to panic. so she just laughs, waving that away. pay no attention to how she seems to be impressed with the glow up while she does so ]
No way! Taichi promised me I could explode things.
What're we waitin' for then? Let's go! Science date!
[excitement overcoming teenage nervousness, he grabs her hand and runs off towards the Stem Lab (although he will let go immediately if she protests or pulls it away or really calls any attention to it whatsoever)]
It's not my usual field but it's not like I have anything else to do but learn new things.
[ that said, she manages a squeak of huh-? before denji spirits her off to the labs! she's rapidly turning neon but she's not pulling away? honestly, she's giggling a little ]
[denji possibly needs to be...gently corrected about the location of the Stem Lab because he has not been before, but they do eventually arrive, probably flush with the excited running]
First stop: Super Cool Science Lab!
[he turns to futaba, eyes a-glitter with anticipation and the promise of mildly dangerous mischief]
Dunno if I can help much with makin' the explosion stuff [he can't read] but I bet I can definitely make you somethin' good to blow up [a grin]
[ha ha well this is a bit of a contrast to their other thread
as soon as things are clear and they can leave the gym, Denji carries Futaba outside and into the fresh air, somewhere away from where everything is happening that's quiet
he sits down with her on the grass, a bottle of water in hand, until she stops crying enough to talk]
[ people keep carrying taba while she's down for the count, she's gonna develop a complex at this rate.
but being somewhere quiet, having denji being a lot more chill than the echo chamber of pain, and just... you know. taking a moment to breathe fresh air, she's finally starting to go numb instead.
this is probably the opposite of a healthy response. ]
[considering that's exactly how denji's dealt with all of his trauma, he is either the best or worst person to be here for her—at the very least he probably understands the feelings coming off her
as the crying calms down and her breathing steadies a bit, he cracks open the water bottle and offers it to her]
You should have some water.
[...]
Won't make ya talk about anything, especially if it hurts that much. Pochita couldn't talk but it always helped me just havin' him there to hold onto or sit next to.
[ she continues to be numb emotionally, mostly just vibing and clutching onto whatever peace she can cling onto. her hardware is completely fried after all and even a hard reset probably won't get her working at 50% capacity right now.
she tries to at least tiredly project an apology through the grey fog of her brain though who knows how well it works. it's just gonna have to be enough that she's aware enough to hear and acknowledge him by taking the water ]
[he watches to make sure she drinks at least a bit, and just continues sitting closely and trying to project his own emotions, which when it comes to old traumas like this are something like...persistence? stubbornness? a desire not to give in to that dark spiraling feeling? it's a feeling of "I won't let this destroy me, I'll survive, I'm still here, I won't look back"
all more than denji and his brain can properly vocalize, so thanks emotion-share week!
if she'll let him, after a bit of silence—when it seems they're truly alone in this little corner of campus—denji puts an arm around her shoulders and gently rocks them both side to side, just a little bit, and starts humming a tune that'll be familiar to futaba as well]
[ it lines up pretty well with what she'd been slowly cultivating her reaction into; the healing that her change of heart began and strengthened. yet, there's nothing like coming across old traumas and realizing no matter how much you've grown since then, the oddest thing can and will trigger you into a globally epic meltdown.
what a disaster.
the humming however does wake her up enough to snort quietly to aim a kick at his leg (huh did she ever get her other boot back from tsuyu..........) but there's no heat in it whatsoever ]
[he rubs at his leg, but his emotions seem relieved and he smiles a bit before crashing back down into a mix of regret and embarrassment]
I dunno what all that was about, but...I'm sorry if I hurt you. Don't really remember, but...obviously I wouldn't...want to...[he trails off awkwardly]
Guess that's why Riku was bein' all protective when I came over.
[the regret deepens—that's worse than he did to some others] Oh...that's pretty bad, yeah. Guess I wouldn't blame 'em, or you, wantin' to kick my ass for that.
You want me to go? Bring you back or bring someone else here?
Or you could break three of my ribs then we'd be even! It'd be pretty easy right now, I think. [he pokes at his left side and winces, but his emotions seem hopeful, that maybe it'll be as easy as letting people hurt him back, that it can fix things like it usually does]
[ everyone else is either busy or also dead so denji is now stuck now. which she makes a point by putting her head on his shoulder to keep him put. pay no attention to the weak amount of embarrassment overcoming the void of emotion ]
[relief and a sort of guilty happiness rise up in denji—weird, messed up circumstances aside, it still feels nice to sit here with a cute girl's head on his shoulder, and he takes a deep breath and settles in, squeezing her shoulders gently]
Well, the revenge rib-breaking thing is an open offer. Seems only fair, ya know?
well, for the moment things are still cute and exciting for these two]
It's pretty easy to make fire, so can't be that much harder to make stuff blow up, right?
[he starts scrounging through the wood, plastic, garbage, and other places for the raw materials needed to make some kind of gross, Devilish monster for them to fill with their bootleg fireworks]
So what's a "programmer" anyway? That a computer thing?
Fire's reaaaaaal easy to do. That's why there's so many safety protocols!
[ time to forgo every last one. futaba will be poking at the 3D printer she's fallen in love with and waking up the tech half of the lab to get things started ]
But yeah! It's people who know how to instruct computers how to do tasks.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
w4, tuesday night probably ?
Date: 2021-07-07 05:20 am (UTC)but fleeing early means now she's stuck waiting and thinking and waiting and- if something doesn't happen in the next 5 minutes she's throwing herself into the moat ]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-07 06:28 am (UTC)Hey!
Was kinda thinkin' Taichi was just tryin' to trick me, but wow you're here!
[at Taichi's insistence, he's a bit dressed up, wearing a nice jacket over his suit from formal, his hair somewhat tamed—there's still a trace of blush as he stands a respectful distance away
I'm also laughing because Denji would have been an hour or two early from nervous excitement, so just imagining that this is happening like, way before their agreed upon time to meet up]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-07 06:38 am (UTC)but the real secret is her legs have been paralyzed in fear for the past fifteen minutes. sometimes? you run away to escape well meaning aunties? but then end up giving yourself Too Much Time to panic. so she just laughs, waving that away. pay no attention to how she seems to be impressed with the glow up while she does so ]
No way! Taichi promised me I could explode things.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-07 08:56 am (UTC)You ever made any before? [in the midst of his Looking Respectfully at date-mode Futaba, he is also Looking Impressed]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-08 06:58 am (UTC)[ clappy hands in chaos ]
The big gyoza maker C.... Caiman and I built was mostly from materials in there.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-08 08:18 am (UTC)You can build stuff like that? You're amazing!
What're we waitin' for then? Let's go! Science date!
[excitement overcoming teenage nervousness, he grabs her hand and runs off towards the Stem Lab (although he will let go immediately if she protests or pulls it away or really calls any attention to it whatsoever)]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-08 08:51 pm (UTC)It's not my usual field but it's not like I have anything else to do but learn new things.
[ that said, she manages a squeak of huh-? before denji spirits her off to the labs! she's rapidly turning neon but she's not pulling away? honestly, she's giggling a little ]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-09 10:26 am (UTC)First stop: Super Cool Science Lab!
[he turns to futaba, eyes a-glitter with anticipation and the promise of mildly dangerous mischief]
Dunno if I can help much with makin' the explosion stuff [he can't read] but I bet I can definitely make you somethin' good to blow up [a grin]
w4, post-trial
Date: 2021-07-11 01:50 am (UTC)as soon as things are clear and they can leave the gym, Denji carries Futaba outside and into the fresh air, somewhere away from where everything is happening that's quiet
he sits down with her on the grass, a bottle of water in hand, until she stops crying enough to talk]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 02:00 am (UTC)but being somewhere quiet, having denji being a lot more chill than the echo chamber of pain, and just... you know. taking a moment to breathe fresh air, she's finally starting to go numb instead.
this is probably the opposite of a healthy response. ]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 02:12 am (UTC)as the crying calms down and her breathing steadies a bit, he cracks open the water bottle and offers it to her]
You should have some water.
[...]
Won't make ya talk about anything, especially if it hurts that much. Pochita couldn't talk but it always helped me just havin' him there to hold onto or sit next to.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 03:44 am (UTC)she tries to at least tiredly project an apology through the grey fog of her brain though who knows how well it works. it's just gonna have to be enough that she's aware enough to hear and acknowledge him by taking the water ]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 04:20 am (UTC)all more than denji and his brain can properly vocalize, so thanks emotion-share week!
if she'll let him, after a bit of silence—when it seems they're truly alone in this little corner of campus—denji puts an arm around her shoulders and gently rocks them both side to side, just a little bit, and starts humming a tune that'll be familiar to futaba as well]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 04:39 am (UTC)what a disaster.
the humming however does wake her up enough to snort quietly to aim a kick at his leg (huh did she ever get her other boot back from tsuyu..........) but there's no heat in it whatsoever ]
Is this supposed to make up for suplexing me?
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 04:58 am (UTC)[he rubs at his leg, but his emotions seem relieved and he smiles a bit before crashing back down into a mix of regret and embarrassment]
I dunno what all that was about, but...I'm sorry if I hurt you. Don't really remember, but...obviously I wouldn't...want to...[he trails off awkwardly]
Guess that's why Riku was bein' all protective when I came over.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 05:22 am (UTC)[ she sounds nonchalant about this? like she's gonna lord this over his head when she's not a void of despair and exhaustion ]
I'm a little surprised the rest of Fall didn't show up to help.
[ that's because everyone was also on the floor from the echo chamber, futaba ]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 06:49 am (UTC)You want me to go? Bring you back or bring someone else here?
Or you could break three of my ribs then we'd be even! It'd be pretty easy right now, I think. [he pokes at his left side and winces, but his emotions seem hopeful, that maybe it'll be as easy as letting people hurt him back, that it can fix things like it usually does]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 08:45 pm (UTC)[ everyone else is either busy or also dead so denji is now stuck now. which she makes a point by putting her head on his shoulder to keep him put. pay no attention to the weak amount of embarrassment overcoming the void of emotion ]
Your punishment is to sit and cater to me.
[ alpha vibes... ]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 09:55 pm (UTC)too bad how this ends up though, huh?]
It's a deal! I'm more a programmer than an engineer anyway but I'm sure we can make something fun.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 11:58 pm (UTC)[relief and a sort of guilty happiness rise up in denji—weird, messed up circumstances aside, it still feels nice to sit here with a cute girl's head on his shoulder, and he takes a deep breath and settles in, squeezing her shoulders gently]
Well, the revenge rib-breaking thing is an open offer. Seems only fair, ya know?
no subject
Date: 2021-07-12 12:02 am (UTC)well, for the moment things are still cute and exciting for these two]
It's pretty easy to make fire, so can't be that much harder to make stuff blow up, right?
[he starts scrounging through the wood, plastic, garbage, and other places for the raw materials needed to make some kind of gross, Devilish monster for them to fill with their bootleg fireworks]
So what's a "programmer" anyway? That a computer thing?
no subject
Date: 2021-07-12 09:49 pm (UTC)Fire's reaaaaaal easy to do. That's why there's so many safety protocols!
[ time to forgo every last one. futaba will be poking at the 3D printer she's fallen in love with and waking up the tech half of the lab to get things started ]
But yeah! It's people who know how to instruct computers how to do tasks.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-12 10:08 pm (UTC)[ she's at both 0 HP and MP for the week. try again later ]
That or I'll just ask Fall to hang you out our window.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-13 05:01 am (UTC)[he smiles—letting the night be still and quiet for a bit—and, tentatively, reaches out to take her hand with his free one]
no subject
Date: 2021-07-13 05:05 am (UTC)How'd you learn all that stuff?