[OPEN] tfw retrospec sends you contraband

[buncho]

WHO: Mafuyu/open
WHERE: Recollé high school, Hollingberry Field, Recollé Woods
WHEN: 6/6
WHAT: receiving various item regains, cross-dressing disguise, going ??? over what sort of life she used to live
WARNINGS: none
NOTES: for the canon unfamiliar, Mafuyu looks like the one on the right with her wig on, relevant to prompts A and B

A. Recollé High School
[ An echoing BAM!! resounds through the hall of lockers during lunch time, Mafuyu slamming the door to her locker so hard, it bounces back open without the lock catching. She swears under her breath, trying to push her locker door back closed but instead, a pair of ninja stars nearly slices her toes off when it falls out, and she cuts her palm on brass knuckles as she reaches around for... a stuffed animal? —AND THAT HAD BETTER NOT BE A DISEMBODIED HEAD IN HER LOCKER.

...It's just a wig, which isn't any less creepy, but okay. First, let's put this on, Mafuyu decides, placing it on her head and tucking her own hair underneath so hopefully she looks enough like a boy and no one can recognize her, because next, she has to hurry and gather everything up in her arms and run, who cares about afternoon finals, there are literally three days left of school aND SHE CANNOT GET CAUGHT WITH WEAPONS OR SHE WOULD GET EXPELLED AND CHIYO WOULD KILL HER. ]

B. Hollingberry Field
[ Mafuyu smuggles the items as far as the park, face plants somewhere along the way over a bokken that wouldn't fit in her locker to have been left there, but she's compelled to pick up and bring with her. She stomps her way up the length of the playground slide and sits down right there before unpacking everything onto her lap.

Normally, she wouldn't want to be caught dead with any of these things... This wig that logically she should be grossed out by because it's probably been sitting on somebody's head before, but she leaves it on anyways, telling herself that this way, no one will recognize her playing outside during school hours and drag her back to class. There's a rabbit doll that looks old and worn, well loved, but she's never played with stuffed animals in her life, and none of her friends would probably ever believe she owns something so childish as this.

On the other hand, ninja stars and brass knuckles and a wooden sword? Holy shit, it's Christmas.

She has no idea how to use any of these, but she has all the time to learn, considering she'd just run out from school and there's hours upon hours until she should go home for dinner. There's a certain freedom in hiding who she is (clearly, she's unrecognizable with hair cut short like a boy's, right, that's all she needs to do...) because she doesn't have to worry about being told to go home or go to school or that she's whacking the bark off trees all wrong with that bokken, also that's not how you hold brass knuckles, and whoops, ninja stars go flying everywhere if you don't throw them correctly, watch your nose. ]

C. Recollé Woods
[ The rabbit doll though, Mafuyu doesn't really know what to make of it. Later in the evening, after dropping everything off at home, she takes it with her on a walk, holding it loosely by the ears where she carelessly swings it in wide arcs, wide strides taking her along the river. Across it, her foot slips on one of the large rocks, she falls, her rabbit gets caught in the current, and for whatever reason people like hanging out in the woods, they'll hear this scream of absolute distress.

She can't swim, but that's the furthest thing from her mind: losing a Retrospec gift feels like she would die, she can't let the rabbit get washed away. ]

Comments

[thesettingsun]

College dorms. I'm not supposed to have guests over after a certain hour, and definitely not girls...

[Don't have underage girls over after hours, that's creepy.]

[buncho]

It's college, though. There aren't any parents around to keep track of that sort of stuff. Who're you going to get in trouble with? I can pretend to be in college! No one will ever know!

[thesettingsun]

[Shuji just has to stare at her a second. All of her fresh-faced teenagerness.]

...Literally no one would believe you're in college.

[buncho]

They might! I could have skipped ten grades- no one can tell just by looking. Brains are on the inside!

[ Maybe if she never opens her mouth, no one would notice, but. ]

[thesettingsun]

Yeah, no. If I bring a teenage girl over after hours everyone will think I'm creepy and a perv.

[Not doing that, nope, nope.]

[buncho]

I'm not a teenager! I'm actually thirty years old, and I have an ID to prove it!

[ The ID never works ]

[thesettingsun]

Oh really. Sorry about your horrible growth defects, ma'am.

[He doesn't at all believe her.]

[buncho]

Hey! I'm not short!

[ She's five one and hopefully still growing, but she also presses the palm of her hand down on Shuji's head; this is less effective if he's not standing up. ]

People shrink when they get older, you know? Aren't you already on your way down?

[thesettingsun]

[Maybe she should stop using him as a couch then.]

Maybe when they're seventy. Are you seventy years old?

[buncho]

I'm halfway to seventy! [ thirty, seventy, it's close enough if you round down ] AKA old enough to hang out with you at the dorms!

[thesettingsun]

Answer's still no, absolutely not. I have standards.

[And one of them involves not sneaking teenage girls into his dorm room.]

[buncho]

What're your standards?! Friends are all ages! There isn't an age limit for friends!

[thesettingsun]

If I'm sneaking somebody in overnight and people find out, they're not going to think it was just to hang out! They're going to think I'm a creep!

[buncho]

You're not a creep, so what they think doesn't matter! We'll tell them I'm just here to play and people will believe you! I'll make them believe you!

[ This is punctuated by slamming a fist into her palm, this is how she makes people believe her. ]

[thesettingsun]

Can you please not threaten people for upsetting me? Again? Once was enough!

[RIP that cashier, who was just doing their job.]

[buncho]

It's not threatening people, its called talking! [ with her fists ] It's nothing to be upset about, anyways! Just stop being upset about things!

[thesettingsun]

If that was possible I would have done that years ago.

[Shuji is a delicate flower and will probably continue being upset for a long time.]

[buncho]

[ Years is too long to be upset. Mafuyu doesn't get upset often— angry, yes, but upset in a way she dwells on things for very long and lets it color her thoughts and actions to the point of remembering a minor detail like heckling a cashier weeks later. That guy probably got over it by now too. ]

It's possible: I'll teach you how to stop being upset! Here- tell me your troubles.

[thesettingsun]

[Besides that she's still sitting on him?]

I remembered killing myself and being in that state of mind was terrifying, reality is being controlled by a social networking app and I don't know how any of us are going to do anything about it, and if I drop out of college for my health again I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to graduate.

[Arranged in ascending order of importance, naturally.]

[buncho]

[ Alright. Mafuyu counts these off on her fingers. ]

One! You didn't kill yourself and you aren't ever going to, so just forget about it!

Two! [ ...honestly, fuck Retrospec, she doesn't know what to do about this one, so moving on ]

Three! Just stay healthy! Play outside with me- all you need is fresh air!

[thesettingsun]

[Mafuyu is trying her best, obviously. That said...]

...I appreciate your advice even though it's not very good.

[buncho]

[ Mafuyu give him a Look like she really wants to put him in a headlock right now. ]

It's all good advice! What part isn't good?!

[thesettingsun]

If all mental health problems could be cured by fresh air, we wouldn't have therapists, or psychiatrists, or half the prescription drugs there are. That's not how that works.

[buncho]

[ Mafuyu has never given any thought about mental health, so she just kind of... brushes off anything she does not understand. ]

I'm not curing anything, I'm making it better! Nothing bad comes out of playing with me! It's good for you! It'll help!

[ Honestly. HONESTLY. Mafuyu just wants a playmate, Shuji's health is just an added bonus. ]

[thesettingsun]

Aren't you just trying to get me to hang out with you?

[Shuji is tired and stressed, but that doesn't mean he's stupid. Or that he's not listening, much as he might like to be.]