Why Aren't We in Our Rooms? [Priscilla]

The day had winded down to a close and the evening had set in. Everything was dark. Everything was dark and calm. The moon illuminated the sky in a very weak manner, seeming tired in its own right. Outside one had enough visible light to get around without much difficulty. However, that wasn't where Tensai was quite yet. He was still in his dark, warm room, about to venture out into the quiet night. He had gotten dressed and currently turned off all the heaters that kept his room and the perfect, cozy temperature. Anyone who knew Tensai Sarungekki (only really his brother) knew that he didn't normally leave the sanctity of his room. However, if nothing else, he needed to eat every once in a while.

And if he had to eat, it was going to be during his favorite time of the day: that awkward adolescent stage of the night that was around 7 PM. Most were tired and not yet ready to venture back out into the night life. Thus, it was a safe assumption that no one would be around. At least, he hoped that would be the case. Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself to deal with the outside world on its terms: he couldn't make it play by his. He would have to deal with loud car alarms, headlights shining in the face, and the smells of various restaurants.

As the small recluse opened his door, he peered out into the hallway to check that there was no loud noises about. There was a group of people talking down the hall but they were being pretty quiet all things considered. He could handle this; he could handle this. He walked out in his usual attire of his black hoodie and dark jeans. His hood was up and no one could really see his face unless they looked hard. And even then most wouldn't recognize him by name: he was pretty unknown even among the people living around him.

He made his way through the common's area to the door. Having made this path many times he could space out while he did it. Not paying attention to what he was doing prevented him from noticing the world around him and having a bad reaction to it. That was a blessing and a curse sometimes. He had almost made it to the door...however, he ran into a road block...literally. Tensai had been looking at his feet to further shield his face to avoid being talked to. However, that seemed to be the wrong thing to do considering he'd just walked into someone.

"Excuse me." He stood there for a second as he prepared to take whatever this person said to him and just leave regardless. He didn't plan on staying long; he didn't even look at the person he had walked into.

"Eva: Hey, super super sorry but I forgot about a study group I have to go to"

"Eva: Just completely slipped my mind, I'm reaaaaaally sorry about this"

"Eva; How about we meet up tomorrow afternoon for coffee?"

"Eva: I'll bring it back, we can meet at the school garden or something quieter"

"Eva: I promise you their pain au chocolate is like the best thing you'll have in DC"

Priscilla stared dully at the phone in her hand as she waited by the large wooden double doors to the common room. The butterflies that had been knocking about the sides of her stomach lessened their frantic tumbling, though she found it hard to say whether she was more relieved at not having to sit through a one on one interaction, or actually disappointed that she had fretted for two days straight only to have the meeting cancelled a scant three minutes before the agreed-upon time. In any case, she had been rewarded for her hesitation to brave the common room by herself. It would have been far more humiliating if she had entered and tried to navigate through the strange and ever changing configurations of couches and loveseats and ottomans with her eyes downcast, finding at last a secluded corner but only to realize that her efforts had been for naught. That was the only walk of shame she'd ever be doing in the foreseeable future, but an altogether terrifying affirmation of her fears. At this point it seemed that she couldn't even count on Eva Liu, her cousin's showboating gossip of an assistant, for some form of companionship, and the young woman was essentially obligated to do so.

The heat built up behind as her eyes as her throat ran dry. She had been looking forward to this meeting after all. It would have meant putting significance to another face that was not Yuu's, one that had no choice to but to like her, or at least very convincingly pretend to tolerate her presence. What would she say now to the roommate whom she would not be surprised had already complained about to her friends? Moreover, what would the roommate say about her? That the snotty little Kaneko princess wasn't so high and mighty afterall if she could be stood up so easily? By now Priscilla had been enrolled for all of one week, and still felt like a bother whenever she uttered anything more than "good morning" and "good night." It was all so complicated and overwhelming, and she simply didn't understand why her parents and Yuu himself had insisted that she find lodgings in the school dormitories rather than in her own apartment. She would end up just as lonely and resented, and if she had the money to purchase the entire dorm building several times over (and her family most certainly did), she felt justified in wanting to not have to see it face to face in her own living quarters.

"Oh!" she said softly as she was jostled in the arm by a boy in a black hoodie. Her phone clattered to the floor a few inches away, and she quickly bent her knees to retrieve it, the edges of red capelet that swallowed up everything save for her white stockings brushing against the back of her tall brown boots. "I'm very sorry about that, I shouldn't have stood there,"[/color] she murmured as she brushed the cracked screen with a gloved finger.

When Tensai bumped into the person ahead of him he heard a loud clanking. With a violent ringing in his ears, he recoiled away and grabbed his ears underneath his hood as he bent down. He had expected it to hurt a lot more than it actually did. Or perhaps it had hurt just the right amount. It was so hard to tell when it came to Tensai and stimuli...oh well. Regardless, it wasn't something that he particularly enjoyed. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he kept in that bent over position while trying to calm down. It was gone...it was gone and done. The noise couldn't hurt him anymore. At least...that one noise couldn't hurt him.

"Ow...why does your phone have to be so loud?"

Taking another breath, he steadied himself fully and returned to an upright position. As he lowered his hands to his side he began to get a good look at the person he'd run into. It was a girl about his age. However, she was...beautiful. She looked like a porcelain doll: perfect. Tensai didn't know what about her features gave him this feeling, but he felt his face getting hot indefinitely. A slight bit of red crossed his face as he let out a sigh and looked away from her. He wasn't good with girls around his age...especially pretty ones. Tensai didn't have experience in most social settings and those awkward years of adolescence didn't make anything easier. Now he had to say something to kind of break the silence...but he really didn't know what to say. Also, he was a little nervous because he had been mean earlier. Shit, being around girls was hard.

"I'm very sorry about that, I shouldn't have stood there."

The red on his face turned to a deep scarlet as she apologized. Tensai didn't want her to feel sorry about it or anything...that just made things harder for him. Shooting a glance at her again, he finally decided to rest his gaze firmly on his shoes. Yeah, staring at his shoes would fix everything. Taking deep breaths, he thought about what to say. He didn't know if he wanted to keep being around her or to end this encounter quickly and run off into the night to the comfort of silence and darkness. He couldn't flip a coin or anything; he had to think fast.

"Oh...oh, it's okay. I should've watched where I was going. I'm sorry about that. Where you waiting for someone or something?"

He had been able to look at approximately her knees as he said all that. Bouncing a little awkwardly on his feet, Tensai recognized that he probably just extended this encounter longer than he needed. Oh good.

She remained rooted in place, waiting for the boy to move along so that she could scurry away with as much dignity as she could muster. Priscilla feigned obliviousness by preoccupying herself with the spiderweb that had etched its way across the screen of the phone, though the prickling at the back of her neck had not subsided- for some undecipherable reason, he stayed, and so would she. She focused in on her own reflection to steel herself against whatever angry remarks he must have in store for her, as she could think of little else to explain this deviation in social interaction. It had to be a particularly nasty dressing down if he was taking his time to look her over, as though he had difficulty understanding just what wretched thing would be dumb enough to block his way. Things were easier when you expected the worst, and that certainly fit the bill of what her cousin Yuu might do were it anybody but another Kaneko. If the girl had thought to tilt the phone just so to catch the boy's bashful expression, she would not have been so baffled at the words that did end up coming from his mouth.

Her mouth opened slightly, though she had no response prepared. Her mind was similarly blank. Just when was the last time she held a conversation with a stranger? This wasn't giving a one off, time-appropriate greeting or going through the script of a predetermined series of statements to give and receive- this was organic, and entirely alien to her for it. Only a minute or two earlier she had been wistful over still not having anyone to speak with, and here was someone who was waiting on her to reply, someone who had chosen to prolong their brief exchange.

"I was," she said carefully, and softly as she always did. "But she forgot she has classes to study for."[/color] She possessed a clear and gentle voice. With her impeccable inflection, she was able to alter it to seem a bit chilly to keep others at bay, or more often temper it down so that it was pleasantly bland. Her speech was not emotionless, but also still not rife with any one feeling in particular, something that was agreeable when you listened to it but would not rouse enough emotion on either side of the spectrum to cause most people to want to press on further. It was just another of her many camouflage tactics, tricks of the trade for someone who had consigned herself to invisibility, and so ingrained that she had no idea how to speak otherwise now that she thought she might wish to maintain his presence.

"And you were?" Priscilla spoke a little more quickly than before, and some slight strain could be detected in her voice, though her eyes wide open in mortification was a completely unambiguous cue to her distress. She had hazarded a quick look up to actually get a better look at the face that was partially obscured by his black hood, to see that his gaze rested at her knees. Immediately her eyes flicked down and her mind raced to find whatever unsightly blemish might have caught his attention. Were the stockings discolored? She had to search online how to do her laundry herself, and although she was certain upon retrieving them from the machine that they were not the immaculate white they had been in washings prior, she had not noticed then if there were unflattering spots. She'd gone to do it near midnight, when no one would be around to see a Kaneko fumbling around with a task they had always designated to a domestic worker.

Seeing her mouth open in some form of shock, Tensai felt even more heat rush to his face. It wasn't going to get any more scarlet from the pale shade his skin was, but its temperature could most certainly rise. He felt a certain kind of awkward that he hadn't felt before this moment. He was used to not liking being around people he didn't know; this was different though. He didn't get flustered in his face or tongue-tied whenever he was around other boys. To be honest, he hadn't even gotten this reaction from being around other girls. He didn't know what it was about her that made him act this way. In all reality, it was probably any number of the raging hormones in his system that had been laying dormant for a moment like this. Oh well, Tensai would learn that in biology...if he stayed awake for it.

Right now though, all he knew was that she was taken aback. For some reason, he felt as if everything about his little world hinged upon her response. Time didn't matter at this point; he would go to bed hungry before he broke off this encounter to go obtain subsistence. Tensai couldn't tell if he liked feeling this way or not. It was a stimulus he wasn't used to. However, it seemed to be one that he could handle. It wasn't a violent light or a pervading noise...it was simply a hot feeling from the inside. Things from the inside couldn't hurt him. Right?

"I was. But she forgot she has classes to study for."

Breathing out a kind of relieved sigh, he felt his heart almost slow down. That wasn't hard considering how it had sped up as he had waited for her response concerning his earlier question. It was like coming up for air when swimming; a beautifully fragile form of relief. However, he thought about what to say. What was he supposed to say? Wanting this encounter to go on, Tensai tried to think about what she might feel about that. If he could relate to her he could make conversation. But...that raised its own set of problems. He didn't know how to relate to people about anything. Although he couldn't really relate to someone perfectly, Tensai was sure to give it his best effort. That had to count for something.

"Oh, well uhhh...that's no good. But, it gives you more freedom. It's like...if she wanted to do something and you didn't really want to, now you don't have to. So, maybe it's good because your night is yours and you don't have to do anything that you might not want to do. I'm not saying you wouldn't want to do something with her but...wait, what am I trying to say? I'm sorry."

He hadn't meant to ramble...but it just kind of came out. Whatever typically impeded his ability to talk around people had turned itself off. Unfortunately, the mechanism that made him get more and more awkward as he spoke seemed to be working just fine. This wasn't how he wanted this encounter to happen. Tensai didn't want to be strung out like this...but now he didn't want to not be strung out like this either. Crap...this was hard and confusing and harder some more. It was all kinds of hard; why was it so hard?

"And you were?"

Taking a small breath, he decided to keep this bit of words short if nothing else. His long, quiet ramble hadn't been something he wanted to do again. He was going to limit himself to seven words: yes seven. He didn't know what they were going to be quite yet...but if he thought too much about it he would run into issues again. He certainly didn't want that, stressful like no other.

"I was going to go eat, yeah." He had thrown on the little "yeah" at the end to reach seven words: nailed it.

This was nothing like the easy, carefree banter that she had so often watched her cousins engage in. This was halting and awkward, unstructured and guided only by a vague and likely mistaken sense of how such conversations went, and strange in a way that these off-script moments seemed artificial for how both participants struggled to generate their own dialogue. For its aimless, faltering stumble, this current exchange distinctly lacked that slick oil-on-water sensation that she was left with when she spoke to Yuu, the way he would deliberate mislead and lay in wait under the distraction he had set up out of sheer force of habit. However, she knew his nature and his default mode of dealing with people; with this boy, it was an enormous question mark, and even more threatening for it. One was already proven to be reliably venomous, while with the boy in the hoodie, she could only hope to hold herself back just enough to spare herself the worst should he prove to be toxic. How in the world anyone could ever find it fun to strike up spur-of-the-moment acquiantanceships was completely beyond her.

There was much she didn't understand in the moment. Why he had not simply walked on as had happened so many other times in the past was one. Her initial guess had been struck down, and since she had not yet revealed her family affiliation and he had not groveled for forgiveness, it seemed fairly unlikely that he was trying to take his chance at cozying up to her money. It was an impossible expectation of her, though if she had just enough savvy, she might be able to ponder on the possibility of that first line of inquiry being related to the mystery of what was causing him to flush so. Out of politeness but more so drawing on empathy towards wanting to remain as unnoticed as possible, she refrained from giving any indication of noticing now that she had finally peeked at his face.

Her gaze rested upon his mouth, an innocuous enough gesture that seemed much safer than focusing on the spot directly between his eyes- a lapse could result in actually having to see what feelings actually lay behind his words. Priscilla wished to be able to take what he said simply at face value, and she found his voice soothing enough in that regard. Smooth and even, without dips or crests of emotion that she might be compelled to scrutinize to excess, the monotone provided a potential sanctuary. As perplexing and subsequently anxious it made her, she felt like she had spent so much time trying to prepare herself for a potential storm that she wished to test her battlements anyways. She had allowed herself the smallest amount of hope that she might make a friend out of Eva, enough that it might actually hurt more for it to not come to fruition.

As he had said, the night was hers and she was not obligated to anyone to do something she didn't want to. What she wanted to do was make friends. She wanted to make sense of this strange and intimidating place. She wanted to be able to find solace in being able to recognize a face in the crowd, to be able to chip away just a little at the unknown that frightened her. She wanted the extravagance of thinking that someone actually would want to talk to her free of ulterior motives.

"I haven't been to the cafeteria at all, could you show me the way?" She was careful with her phrasing to imply that he would only need to endure her for a limited period of time rather than commit himself longer than he was comfortable with, but she had to be certain. "If you would like to."[/color] She had a vague notion that she would actually be disappointed if he declined.

Currently, Tensai was having the same kind of thoughts running through his head that inhabited Priscilla's, though he couldn't have possibly known. Why hadn't he walked past her after simply bumping into her? If he had simply ignored her and made no chance at apologizing for knocking into her he could be gone by now. That meant he wouldn't be in the middle of this conversation while his heart pounded in his chest. Still not knowing why that was happening, Tensai was currently almost wishing that he had just left. But then again...he wasn't. This awkward feeling that was almost erupting within him was fierce...but it was real. Also, it was crazily something that he could handle. It was something that didn't cause him to faint or freak out at all. All he had to do was hold out throughout the intensity of this burning sensation within him. By some standards it almost felt...good.

When he began to notice her gaze at his face he looked away from her eyes and locked his eyes awkwardly on his feet. He kicked at the ground a little and immediately wished he hadn't. For some reason, the noise seemed louder than it really should have. Taking a deep breath, Tensai looked back up at her and the noise just seemed to die away. Apparently, when focused on this burning sensation within he was capable of drowning out what surrounded him. So it was beneficial in many regards it seemed. Not only was it a feeling that was a fuzzy feeling that warmed him, it also drowned out stimulus around him.

"I haven't been to the cafeteria at all, could you show me the way? If you would like to."

Taking a deep breath, he thought about how he would respond. Here she was, making an effort to increase the amount of time they would be spending together. What should he do about this? Tensai knew that he wanted to keep being around her. He couldn't quite commit to eating the whole meal at the cafeteria and all that entailed. However, he could just wait and see how confident he was once he got her there. The cafeteria was typically pretty empty as many students liked to go out to eat during the night. It was a safe place for him to extend his contact with her, if he wanted to.

"Uhhhh...yeah. I can show you the way to the cafeteria if you would like. I've been there a few times and know the way from here. Do you mind following me there? Is it okay if I walk kinda slow? I'm sorry." Taking a step back, he looked away from her to look at the hallway that would lead them to the cafeteria. "Ummmmm...follow me please...if you don't mind to. If you want to wait for a while before that's fine but if not I can take you. Not that it matters like a lot. But if you wanted to wait a while it's okay, but if you don't want to that's okay too."

He turned around to walk towards the hallway and he kind of fell into his usual pattern of walk. However, this time Tensai had company that he enjoyed being around. But what to say? "So, how long have you been...eating? Ermmm...I mean, how long have you lived here? I asked about eating because the cafeteria...and the dorms...and...I'm sorry."

Nailed it.

The charm hanging from the metal hair ornament that held her side ponytail tinkled as she gave a little nod at her guide. He repeated himself several times, tripping over the words as they left his mouth. This was why she rehearsed her speech several times to herself before giving voice to her thoughts, though what else could he do to fill in the vacuum left by her own taciturn ways? Priscilla communicated through subtleties, and each short sentence she spoke was presented like a meticulously processed gem. She wished to put him at ease, as she felt guilty for the burden she had asked him to take upon himself, though that was a conundrum when she spent most of the time trying to figure out how to endure being around others without breaking down in tears. For whatever reason, he continued to tolerate her, and he seemed to be trying so very hard to continue speaking with her. She really did want to know why this was happening at all, but would never be so blunt as to actually ask. Perhaps it was best to not question it and allow this moment to just be, or else it might fall apart around her.

"Thank you, I apologize for troubling you like this. I appreciate your assistance." It seemed appropriate to add a smile, and she thought she felt her cheeks move up ever so slightly in the expected manner. She practiced in the mirror from time to time, if only to be able to appease her relatives whenever they nagged about her doleful demeanor. She would go on further to beg pardon for her timidity and helplessness in trying to speak to others, though she thought better of it. Truth be told, she didn't feel right saying sorry when she really did prefer that he be the more talkative one. It was pleasant to hear him speak, a thought she didn't know quite what to do with.

Priscilla followed the boy, walking by his side and staying just half a footstep behind him. Her high class breeding was evident even in the way she moved: with grace and deliberation, and above all an acute consciousness of how she might look to others. Her eyes were mostly kept ahead and occasionally gave a quick glance to the side at his partially obscured face, as though just to make sure that he was real and still there, not a figment dreamed up by her loneliness-addled mind. It brought a small measure of comfort to be able to tell her family that at least she wasn't hallucinating, in spite of her multitude of other emotional aberrations, as they tended to phrase it. "I have only been here for a week. My cousin is already an EAT meister, but he feels I should make my own acquaintances.

Unsure of just how much distance was appropriate to put between them, she withdrew her arms inside of her capelet and held them loosely crossed in front of her. "So you are already familiar with this school?" The girl wondered if she should also pull up the hood to her deep red capelet.

"Thank you, I apologize for troubling you like this. I appreciate your assistance.

Tensai turned his head away from her as well as keeping it down. He was yet to round a corner but he wanted to further obscure his face to prevent her from seeing the very deep shade of scarlet that it had become. He was honestly just so embarrassed. More than anything he wanted to tell her that everything was fine and he enjoyed spending this time with her. However, his mouth was dry and he couldn't form words all that well. Given, he was used to not really knowing what to say when it came to being around to people. However, he was having more trouble than usual for some reason. It had to do with that burning sensation more likely than not. Composing what to say, he knew that he had to assure her that she wasn't being a problem to him. How should he string that? Oh damn...this was hard.

"You're not being a problem. I mean ummmmm...it's no problem for me to take you to the cafeteria. I don't want it to seem that way. I'm sorry."

"I have only been here for a week. My cousin is already an EAT meister, but he feels I should make my own acquaintances."

If she had only been here for a week then it made sense that she needed help finding her way around. However, Tensai became slightly excited at the notion that she would need help finding things around Death City and that she was currently saying she needed more friends. If nothing else, it seemed logical that he was going to spend more time with her. That in its special way seemed to be a little gift for him. Turning to his right, he slowed down to signal to her that this was where they had to turn in order to get to the cafeteria. At this time, Tensai decided he would have to interject again to keep some form in this conversation.

"Right this way. We just ummmmm...continue down this hallway for a little while and we'll get there. So, do you know your way around Death City yet? Ummmm...if you needed help finding your way I could like ummm...help you out. You know, if you wanted. If you didn't that's okay too. I'm sorry."

"So you are already familiar with this school?"

As they walked into the large area that was the cafeteria, Tensai raised his head to actually look at his companion for the first time since he began down the hallway. With a very weak, fleeting smile he thought of what to say to her about the cafeteria. Should he tell her what they had or where she needed to go to obtain her food? No, that would imply that she wasn't smart enough to figure that out. That wasn't going to go over well. This was a special kind of hard that he just wasn't used to.

"Ummmm...yeah kinda. I'm pretty familiar with the dorm at least. I can't get around all the school quite yet though...I'm sorry."

With that, he nodded towards the door that went towards the kitchen where one could obtain their food. As he looked around the cafeteria, he saw that it was mostly empty. Feeling an odd swing of confidence, Tensai decided to eat with her if she'd let him. "Can I ummm...eat with you? You know if you're okay with that and everything."

The cafeteria was mercifully vacant for the most part, though for its enormity, standing at its mouth and peering in seemed oddly personal besides the hooded boy. His presence made the entire room shrink down to a manageable size, made the empty vastness of it not as intimidating as it would be otherwise. The back of Priscilla's neck prickled, and she turned her head slightly towards him and confirmed that he had been looking at her, smiling at her. Unable to identify the look in his eyes, she held his gaze for moment. It was something like a tentative warmth that was actually pleasant to be the subject of, and she quickly looked away once she came to the latter realization.

She cast her eyes about, sweeping over the long plastic benches arranged in rows. Instinctively, she sought out the exits, as well as the quickest routes to them. She had been lectured severely by Yuu yesterday when he caught wind that she had been paying a girl across the hall just to bring her meals to her room, something about making people irritated by treating money like it was nothing. There was nothing wrong she could find with that arrangement: it didn't seem right to ask her such a favor without due compensation, and the deliverygirl was quite happy for the $30 a day in addition to pad the weekly allowance she got from the academy. She'd begin purchasing her own meals from now on since her self-arranged room service displeased him so, but until he said otherwise she would eat elsewhere, free from scrutiny and the inevitable din.

For all the fuss raised about her spending habits, however, she had neglected to bring her purse along with her. Her expression changed to a downcast little unvoiced "Ah" of regret at his question. She took her momentary pennilessness as the midnight bell signaling that this strangely enjoyable little reverie had come to its end; it was time for Cinderella to stop pretending and go home now, before she pushed her luck any further.

"I haven't brought my purse with me," she replied. "I would like it very much if you could show me around the city as well, but I've imposed on you enough for now. Thank you again." She very well couldn't just turn and leave right then without first waiting for his response, though it crossed her mind that the gesture might seem rather conniving, and it worried her greatly to think that he might misinterpret this as an attempt to take advantage of his kindness. Catching someone's eye and conning a free meal out of them, that was Yuu's business, not hers. "Your name was?"

"I haven't brought my purse with me. I would like it very much if you could show me around the city as well, but I've imposed on you enough for now. Thank you again."

With a small breath, Tensai pondered what to do. He had enough money to pay for the both of them but he didn't know that was his place. If he offered too, he didn't know what her reaction would be. Would she appreciate it or think that he was simply being overbearing on her? Would it change things between them if they ever met again? No, when they met again. They were definitely spending more time together after this encounter: Tensai would even leave his room for such a meeting with her. Even if it only meant showing her around town for a hour or so, he would do what he had to...within his limits. Short of braving a crowd of people or being outside during the extreme sunlight he would do whatever.

But, right now it became apparent to him that he had to quickly make a choice about what he was to do. Did he stay here in the cafeteria or did he leave to his room? Well, he had initially left his room to eat. He might as well grab food while he was in the cafeteria and hungry. Matching eyes with her for a moment, he offered a small smile before taking a step back to illustrate that they were to depart from each other soon.

"It was no problem. If you ummmm...ever want me to show you around Death City I can meet up with you some time. You know, if you want to and you're not busy and you don't have anyone else that you'd rather have show you around."

"Your name was?"

"Sarungekki Tensai. Ummm...what was your name? If you don't mind telling me that is. I'm sorry." After that, he waited for her to respond before going to get some food from the cafeteria. It was just be rude to leave without making perfectly sure that the conversation was done. Not just that, but Tensai wanted to drag out this encounter for as long as he could without her getting upset concerning his presence. The burning inside him hadn't ceased quite yet and he didn't think it would as long as he was around her. This feeling was just so pleasant. Why would he leave if he didn't need to quite yet?

"I am Priscilla. Good night and thank you again, Tensai," she said. Her expression remained largely neutral, and her eyes a little downcast as she gave a little nod of acknowledgment as she excused herself. She turned and retreated back to the long hallway, rubbing the back of her hand as she found comfort in the skin contact. Had she been too abrupt in terminating the conversation? The timid Cinderella also left him with only a first name, omitting the last name she almost daily struggled to claim some semblance of ownership over.

She had also neglected to even set up a tentative next meeting, though would he actually be interested still given the way she seemed to have found an altogether too convenient excuse to scurry away? Why would anyone ask to be taken to the cafeteria and then leave as soon as she was asked to be accompanied through her meal, if not because she was uninterested but too polite to openly decline? People always had motives behind their actions; it was the cornerstone of basic Kaneko socialization. Well, that wasn't her intention at all, really, truly, but how would Sarungekki Tensai know that? She would have to find some way to demonstrate otherwise, though she had not determined in concrete their next meeting. What a fool she was, now the evidence was piled up that she had meant quite the opposite of what she was saying!

It was far too late now to march back to find him, for she certainly didn't want to appear desperate. Silly, silly thing she was. Perhaps she shouldn't have asked him at all, if she was going to blunder about so and slight the first person to really pay her any mind. Priscilla was now grasping her hands tightly together. She couldn't very well ask Yuu for guidance; no one should have Yuu inflicted upon them, nobody. Her roommate, she could not even really breathe easily around without fear of being constantly scrutinized, how could she possibly reveal her nascent bumbling attempts at socializing to her? Lonely Priscilla, now without even her pets to accompany her.

Still, against common reason, he had stayed to speak with her after that initial accident. That had to mean something. She had nary an inkling as to what it could be, but she had been surprised, and in turn continued along in a chain of novel actions as a rather new experience unfolded around her that was at the same time both baffling and also something along the lines of pleasant. She embarked on this foray into the unknown because she wanted to be different for once, and she got her fill of the new. It stood for something, Priscilla repeated to herself.

"I am Priscilla. Good night and thank you again, Tensai,"

Priscilla. With a hard blink, Tensai readily committed that name to memory for future use. He wanted to have to use that name again, but he didn't know if she would want to see him again. Like, she had said that she wanted him to show her around. But, that didn't exactly mean that she still felt that way, right? Did he make a good impression on her in this encounter or did she just think he was crazy? Either was really possible and it made Tensai a bit nervous to think about. This burning was something he wanted to feel again without doubt. It was like having the perfect heat, like being almost TOO cozy. And being TOO cozy could only really be good...right? It wasn't like too much of a good thing would ever hurt him.

As she left, Tensai felt everything almost get heavy. The light in the cafeteria seemed almost brighter and the low rumble of the machinery in the kitchen definitely amplified. Priscilla was, if nothing else, a perfect distraction. However, with her not being here now, he decided that he might as well just eat and go back to his dorm room. Meandering slowly towards the general direction of the kitchen, Tensai felt a small grin spread across his face. He was going to have something actually interesting to tell his brother. Toshioni, his popular, girl-chasing brother would get to hear about his story for a change. Tensai had not only gotten out of his room and talked to someone, he had met a girl.

After he made some kind of uninterested noises in the direction of the cafeteria worker, Tensai ate at a table in the corner of the large cafeteria before he returned it and went back to his dorm room. As he stepped into his beautiful habit of uninterrupted solitude, Tensai very quietly closed the door behind him. Unzipping his jacket, Tensai smiled in spite of himself. He had actually talked to someone who didn't find him boring or horribly off-putting. At least, he didn't think she thought that. Priscilla didn't...did she? As he set his jacket on his desk, Tensai thought about what tomorrow would bring to him. Priscilla hadn't made exact plans for their next meeting so he didn't know when that meeting would actually happen. Oh well. It would happen eventually; it had to.

-End-