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Entry tags:

chikusa kakimoto

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Who: Tristan LeBlanc (Jugglus Juggler) and you!
Where: His office at the school, some bar in town, wherever else you want
Summary: AU stuff, and cats (AU info here if you want it)
Warnings: None yet

School

As much as cats are still inundating the town, they don't seem to be bothering your local school counselor too much as he sits in his office, finishing up some paperwork. With the way several of them seem to just be lazily scatted around the room, he seems to have embraced them as therapy animals.

Though maybe the one that keeps trying to sit on the aforementioned paperwork is a bit bothersome. He's moved the cat (who is exceptionally large, fluffy, and brown, and heavy enough that this feels like more of a chore than it should be) three times, but it just keeps coming back and plopping right back down. He sighs a little as he picks the cat up once again, only to have the door to his office open as he sets the cat on the floor... and watches with some frustration as it hops right back up on the desk and lays down on the papers. Though as he turns to the person in the doorway, he at least has a different reason for not getting that done.

"Can I help you?"

Bar

It's been a long day, and now it's time to relax. There's a bar not too far from his house, and while he's not there all that frequently, it is one of his preferred places to unwind. It's a cozy place, not too fancy. Maybe he's meeting up with someone tonight, or maybe he's just there by himself, enjoying the atmosphere.

Either way, the cats have wormed their way in here too. For the moment, he's sitting on a stool at the bar, alone save for the little orange tabby that's decided to climb into his lap. He looks down at it, something between amused and weary, as the cat puts its paws on the bar and casually bats at his glass, which he proceeds to pick up out of the way.

"That's not for you."

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... That voice. He knows that voice - or at least, Kei knows that voice, and the fact that several months have passed since he awakened doesn't make this any less weird - and he stares at the counselor.

Shit. He attempts to use the distraction of the cat to just... quietly walk towards the door, but when he glances back to check if the guy's still distracted, Taro walks smack into a cat, who screeches and claws at his leg, leading to a yelp from the tanuki and then a 'shit'.

He's not supposed to be here. His fake ID got him in, but the counselor sure as hell knows his 'actual' age.

The commotion gets his attention, and he looks over to spot someone he recognises. Specifically, someone he was very much not expecting to see in here.

"Kei?" He stands up, drink in one hand, and the other gently encouraging the cat to jump off of him. He makes his way over to the other, distinctly keeping an eye on him, though it's not as threatening as it could be.

"What are you doing here?" He'll give him that much, an opportunity to either explain or come clean. Given this student's track record, he's pretty sure he knows the answer to that question, but he doesn't like to lead off with accusations.

He sighs and turns around. Answers, answers... "I had to use the bathroom and this was the only place that let non-customers use it." That's convincing enough, isn't it? And... well. It is an actually decent bathroom, as far as bar bathrooms go.

It's not a bad excuse, though he glances toward the door of the place. There's a bouncer checking IDs as people come in the door, and while the scenario Kei mentioned is possible, he doubts the bouncer would have so thoroughly lost track of the kid who should only be there for a few minutes. He nods toward the doorway.

"I assume he's expecting you back out any second now, then." His gaze turns back to Kei. "I'll walk you to the door."

Edited 2017-10-24 03:40 (UTC)

Dammit. Now he's not gonna get to try today's special... "Yeah. I... sure." At least he's got his jacket with him, and he tries to keep his expression calm. There's totally nothing wrong.

Unfortunately he's still not used to the expression he has on his face matching what he actually feels - with his transformations he can always just use an illusion to cover things up. So his expression is fairly disappointed as he's walked towards the door. "Students too hard on you, Mr. LeBlanc?"

The disappointment is pretty obvious, only confirming his suspicions about that having been a clever cover story. He chuckles a bit at the question.

"Never," he replies, confidently. He can handle everything that's sent to him, just the same way he can handle catching a sneak in a bar. "This is just a nice place to relax..." He gives Kei a look that says he's seen through this act of his, even if he's content enough to play along. "Though I'm guessing you've gotten that impression."

Great. This is... fantastic. He just holds his hands up in a calming gesture. "Yeah. I... look. I keep my stuff under control. I don't have any interest in causing too much trouble. It'd be bad for multiple reasons." And it might convince someone to take a closer look at his ID.

"I don't want to make extra work for you, you know. It's not like I enjoy it when I land in your office and the administrators get pissed off."

He pauses where they are, not far from the door, but not yet within easy earshot of the bouncer. "What you're saying is that you don't like being caught." He says it lightly, but with little room to argue. "I can't blame you for that, though I'd prefer if you didn't do things you'd get in trouble for to begin with. Speaking of which," he holds out a hand, palm up in front of Kei, "can I see your ID?"

Taro just shrugs. He can't deny that he doesn't like being caught. Who does? But he raises his eyebrows at the question. This he can handle. He pulls out his wallet and flicks through his cards, pulling out his actual ID from between two cards. It's got Kei's name on it and everything.

Taro, being experienced with this sort of thing, had shoved his fake ID into a pocket at the front of the wallet where it didn't poke out. He's done the underage drinking thing before. He knows there's always a chance to be caught.

Nice try. It's a move he's actually expecting, so he barely even blinks as he looks at it, and then tries again.

"Now the one that got you in here."

Oh come on.

... Right, this is a guy who works with teenagers.

"... Look, not here." He's not going to whip out a fake ID and wave it in front of people who could very well land him in jail. He's not stupid.

That, and he wasn't a perfect teenager, himself, not that he typically makes that known. His life has settled itself out by now, but there's a reason he understands a lot of the kids he works with as well as he does.

As for the rest, there's a reason he kept a distance from the bouncer, or anyone else who seemed likely to pay much attention, when he asked.

"Fair enough." He hands Kei his actual ID back, then goes back to walking toward the door, abandoning what's left of his drink on an empty table on the way.

Look, you don't get to be to his age without being paranoid. He takes his ID back, and heads out after the guy. He briefly considers knocking him out and running away, but that's not going to help anything. Not when he can't leave town, anyway.

So he just heads after him, trying to look casual. Nothing to see here, just two guys who know each other. No big deal.

Not a big deal at all, and the man at the door barely gives them a glance as they walk by. It's only once they've gotten a safe distance away that he gives Kei an expectant look.

He sighs and pulls out the fake ID. It's actually fairly well made. It's the right weight and a pretty similar gloss to the real ID cards. It's got his age as just over the legal limit, and has the name as Sora Hund.

"... Look. I'm not gonna swipe my grandparents' booze. Grandpa needs his whiskey. And bringing it back to the house is just a bad idea. I keep things under control."

"I understand, Kei." Really, he does. Still, he has his own obligations, and his own mistakes he doesn't need to see a student repeat. "But you know I can't let you keep this."

He groans, trying to keep himself from being too disappointed. Shit, he's stuck as a young adult and doesn't have a fake ID anymore? That's bullshit. He needs booze. "I... come on, man. It was expensive." It's a really good card. Getting one that stands up as well as a real card is tough.

Ken eyes the cats that are spread around the room, before sighing. Everyone here still calls him 'Riki'... he's not going to get them to change soon, is he? Ugh. "I was told I was supposed to come see you?" His teacher probably thinks he's not settling in all right or something. Of course he's not. This stuff isn't real, after all. It's stupid.

Tristan is one of the few adults in this school who would probably humor that request to be called by a different name, without questioning it too much. Of course, that only applies if he knows it's wanted. Upon hearing that, he takes a moment to place the face and match it to what he's heard from teachers and what's in his files.

"Riki, right? Your teacher told me you would come by." And a few things about why, but he'll see what the kid volunteers. "Come in." He gestures over to where there's a couch, a comfy chair, a small table with a couple more standard issue school chairs around it. There are, of course, places with more or less cats. "You can sit anywhere you like."

He gets up to move over and make sure the door is closed behind him once he does come into the room fully. No one needs the threat of prying eyes and ears from the hallway.

Right. Right, okay. He's... never seen a school counselor before but his Eddan self clearly has. Hasn't he? He's pretty sure he has memories of Riki talking to school counselors while at the orphanage. Anyway, he sits down carefully in the comfy chair, making sure there's no cat on it.

"... Yeah. Why... did you want to talk to me? I'm not in trouble, am I?"

"No, you're not." He clarifies that before anything else, as he comes back to take a seat on the couch, at the end nearest the chair Riki's in. "And I'm more interested in hearing if there's anything you'd like to talk about. Your teacher said you've been acting different lately."

That... that is too close. He stiffens up noticeably. Different... right. He's not Riki, and this guy... it'd be like telling someone about the Dark Hour. He'd just laugh it off. There's no point in doing that, then. "I... it's nothing."

Nothing, except guilt and frustration and someone he would like to punch but can't. "It's just weird, being... here. It's not like... what I'm used to."

He shifts a bit. Not dramatically, but a little away, hoping to put the boy at ease.

"What are you used to?" he prompts gently. He knows some things that are in his files. He'd rather hear what Riki has to say, though.

Oh boy. He tries to remember Riki's memories. Some of the things he's used to. Some of them... not so much. "... Relying on just myself. For most things. If I was hungry, I'd go eat. I wouldn't have to... to sit down at a table and talk about my day. If I was tired, I'd sleep. I wouldn't have a bedtime."

That was... putting it gently. "And... and I didn't have to deal with people asking me about how I felt. I didn't have to explain myself. And I didn't really have homework." Well. He had no homework, because he wasn't in school. But Riki had just moved up a year to sixth year of Primary Cycle, so it wasn't surprising the homework had stepped up.

He listens, remembering everything he's read about Riki's history and his family situation.

"Does talking about your day bother you?"

Father ran off before he was born, his mother was killed from a car going through their front window two years ago. He'd been living in an orphanage, and then they'd found his father in Eddan and made him take Riki back with him.

... The father was very young when he'd had Riki, which seems to have contributed to the running off part. But Riki'd been fairly withdrawn and quiet since. He'd been picked on a lot, both at school and in the orphanage. He was a little harsh when pushed too far, but not overly-so. Possible early signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but at his age it's a little difficult to tell. Definite early signs of depression, at the very least.

"... There's really nothing to talk about. I don't... I'm in a house with a stranger. And I don't want to get to know someone who abandoned me and my mother."

"That's understandable," he concedes. "It's a hard position to be in when you didn't ask for any of it." And from everything he knows, that's definitely true. A lot of decisions about what's best for the child that were probably sound, but certainly not made with the child's consent.

"No. And I know I'm young but they never asked me what I wanted." That much, he knows, thinking through his fake memories. They never asked him in his real ones, either. Was it better to have been on his own? He's pretty sure he was better off, even if it was more dangerous. "They think I don't know anything just because of my age."

"It's a mistake a lot of adults make." If anything, being the person the kids at school confide in has proven to him over and over again that most of them are in some way or another wise beyond their years. And the moreso they are, the more they're driven understandably crazy by people assuming otherwise.

"... And they keep making it. Even when I tell them not to. They don't listen to me." They don't believe him. Maybe Riki's mother did die from a car crash, but the parallels are too strong. It hurts too much.

Yui was mortified, coming here. In her original life, she'd never (okay, very rarely) done anything that could have gotten her in trouble.

Mira, on the other hand, was fairly confrontational when doing an investigative story. And as it turned out, it wasn't just Lazer's Pawn she'd given a hard time to. While it wasn't enough to get her kicked off the school paper, it did mean she was on probation.

"Just...checking in, sir. The new schoolyear's started, and...well, I wanted to let you know I haven't been causing any problems."

He nods, confirming what she said. Mira is a good student, and usually not a source of problems, save for her sometimes unfortunate levels of enthusiasm with regard to her reporting. He hasn't heard about any incidents like that recently, either, so it's not surprising at all.

"Good to hear." He offers a smile, though it doesn't last long as he's distracted by one of the other cats deciding this is the best moment to hop into his lap.

She breaths a sigh of relief. False memories aside, she really does not want to be here. The whole thing is just too embarrassing.

Speaking of embarrassing, though, the cats seem to be trying to do just that to the counselor, and she has to hide a smile.

"You've adopted a few of them too?" she guesses.

"It's certainly easier than trying to keep them out, considering." At first he had, concerned about students with potential allergies, but that quickly proved itself impossible, especially when the entire town had become the worst nightmare of anyone who might be allergic. He'd taken to stocking his drawers with appropriate medications instead, just in case.

"These ones at least all seem to get along with people well enough."

She does manage to smile this time, nodding.

"I know what you mean. My family adopted one of them."

"Only one?" He laughs a little at the thought.

"Ben, my youngest brother, tried to smuggle some home in his backpack, but the twins ratted him out."

"Ah, that's right." He had temporarily forgotten just how large a family she comes from. "I guess you have enough people in your house without adding a bunch of cats to the mix."

"That's what my brother said when he found out," she laughs.

Even as Chikusa quietly closes the door behind him, nothing more than a click solidifying his presence, his eyes follow the cat's determined journey to be a menace. He's a quiet presence right at the doorway, and slowly takes himself out of a rather atrocious slouch after a moment as if he'd forgotten his own body posture. (He had.)

It takes even longer before his eyes drag up to LeBlanc, dark and dull, and longer still for him to answer. "I... was told you would be my new counselor." A moment of consideration passes. "Ciro Bonavida."

He knows what will probably be in the files. A period of depression when he moved into the school apartments a few years ago, problems with bullying. That'd been taken care of, in recent years.... But in recent weeks, he doesn't doubt people have picked up the quiet differences between "Ciro" and "Chikusa". No doubt his period of recovery when he Awakened caught some attention, and he's been even quieter since then instead of participating regularly in class. If not for the benefits of attending such a prestigious school, Chikusa isn't sure he'd come at all... which is really the only reason he's bothered to keep his grades up. With him starting work on the cafe "project", it's probably why he's feeling the pressure to deal with a counselor again.

...And it's possible he hasn't been sleeping as well, lately, but Chikusa views that as a minor annoyance not worth writing home about.

The lack of sleep seems an obvious guess, considering the way the kid is carrying himself. He recognises the name when it's said, and tries to recall everything he'd read earlier. The cat is sitting on top of the relevant file, so for the moment he doesn't bother trying to pull it out for reference. He has a good enough memory to work with.

"Right, I've been expecting you." He gestures to the other part of the room, where there's a couch, a comfy chair, a small table with a couple more standard issue school chairs around it. "Sit anywhere you like."

Sitting down is sort of the last thing he wants to do, but Chikusa knows he has no choice. If he makes a fuss or refuses, that will probably just make him more suspicious. All he wants to do is get this over with as quickly as possible.

With that in mind, he goes to sit at the table, his arms crossing across its surface. There's no further talking, just a dull and patient stare.

He had seen a bit of the cafe project in the making, having followed the volunteer signs on a whim. It was barely started when he'd seen it, but it had been several days since then, so the combination of leading in on a positive note and genuine curiosity leads him to start there as he settles into a chair across the table from Ciro.

"You're involved in setting up that new cafe, aren't you? How is that going?"

"It's... going." Not inclined to make eye contact, he simply shrugs. "By the end of the month, I think it should be ready. I've been putting advertisements around." Both in the school in a few places and a lot of places out. It's been something to do, at the very least, and it keeps him from wasting away in his room.

"That's the plan, at any rate..."

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Bar

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lalala playing the rest of this out a month later >.>

shhh it's totally legit

School

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