[AQ] Filling Empty Choices [Kazuki & Scout]

[☆ SCOUT]

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How Could I Choose?
+ Description: The activity fair has begun for another semester at Seiyo academy! All the students are excited and ready to go to put their all into their after school clubs! This is where you can put your passions into what you do! What club will you choose? Art club? Gardening club? Archery club? Are you even trying to get your own club started? Whatever you choose to do be it join a club or make your own at this school, you know hijinks will ensue!
+ Browse the fair with some friends: +2 Guardians, -1 Roost
+ Create a club: +1 Faberge, +1 Roost
+ Join a club: +1 Faberge, +1 Guardians
+ Advertise a club you're already in at the fair: +1 Faberge, +1 Guardians
+ Sabotage another club's advertising: +1 Roost, -2 Guardians
+ Requirements: None
+ Submitted by Opal and Hatta

---

Perched carefully upon high heels, Scout peered around the activity fair with divided interest. On one hand, it was true that she wanted to join a club; meet some people, scope out some cute girls, maybe partake in something exciting that would no doubt culture her in some way while proving no actual benefit to her life in the future.

But the judgmental eyes that scanned each club's booth were looking for something... extra, outside of the norm of subject matter. Rather, she was looking for personality, for some kind of flair. The actual clubs themselves were made up of generally common things; art, photography, gardening, sports teams dotted about them in forms of archery and swimming and kendo. Nothing that stuck out to her particularly, so she instead had to look for something deeper to catch her interest.

Pausing in the middle of the aisle of booths, she contemplated the idea of making her own club; that was an option, right? So long as she could get members; but she was cute, right? She could do it--maybe get some other cuties with her, she projected. But what even kind of club could she possibly put together--was a birding club too strange? That was her primary idea.

Reaching to flash back to her previous school, all of the clubs had also been rather average; simply more expensive versions of your general clubs: music club was orchestra, they had cricket rather than baseball--things of the like. They'd had a host club, though--did this school have that yet? Thinking back, she wondered if one of the ulterior motives for her being transferred was also cost... the school wasn't cheap.

Ultimately Scout had found herself so distracted that she ended up blocking the aisle entirely, her nose turned up as she closed her eyes in contemplation, arms crossed delicately as she let all her weight shift to one foot, the other rolling as she let her knees press together.

[Kazuki]

There were very few events at school that Kazuki actually enjoyed attending. Orientation was one of them, graduation was the other, and that was about it. The vast majority of the time he hated hanging around his fellow classmates. It wasn't necessarily their fault. One couldn't help being livestock without being aware of the situation they were falling victim to after all. Still, each new year at school brought on the hope for an interesting group of classmates, and every single year he was sorely disappointed by the mindless drones that filed in.

Now he was stuck standing in the middle of the activity fair, a vacuous event where people competed to see which club could recruit the most members. He absolutely detested this event, sneering at the pathetic attempts captains and club leaders made to try and get him to join. They all resorted to pitiful tactics of screaming in his ear and throwing flyers at him to gain his attention. Even the photography club seemed lackluster - he had no intention of taking pictures of people, animals and nature were so much more interesting.

Kazuki scowled as he was thrown through another group of first years eager to hit their next booth. His camera was nearly knocked out of his hands and he held onto it tightly. If these brats were so interested in joining a club, why not make their own? They surely had more to contribute to society than 'acapella'. He huffed, righting himself against the swarm of students as he began his trek towards the exit once again, stopping only as he ran into a surprisingly small barrier.

The girl in front of him had stopped entirely, nose in the air as she suddenly stood still. Next to them students were moving back and forth, leaving her path as the only one left to safely traverse. Kazuki glared at the back of her head with as much malice as he could muster, willing the gods to get her to move. When it seemed as though his telepathy wasn't working he sighed, plastering on his warm and friendly smile. It was the one he used with visitors at the temple, the one that said 'You can trust me, I have no intention of cursing the next seven generations of your family!'

"Ne, excuse me?" he started politely, looking as saintly as he possibly could. His camera was still clutched tightly in his hands, people knocking against his arms even harder now that he was standing still, "Would you mind moving just a bit? You're holding up the rest of the line."

[☆ SCOUT]

It was hard to come up with any kind of idea that seemed like it might appeal to the masses that attended Seiyo; though there were some others of status that attended, there were also just as many commoners abound, which made things difficult, as it meant that she couldn't go quite as glamorous as she might've wanted if she wanted to draw members in, as some simpletons didn't often appreciate the true value of the effort that went into presentation.

A sigh, as she pressed her carefully-manicured fingertips gentle to her cheeks. A voice then appeared behind her, which seemed to be prompting toward her, and she spun on the ball of her feet to twist and face it fully. "Hm?"

Facing the individual, she then turned to face him fully, staring slightly over her shoulder as her gaze fixated upon him, eyes trailing up and down in a once-over. He had what she was looking for; he stood out, he made a statement, though granted she wasn't exactly sure what it said. Tanned skin and bright bleached hair, earrings, beads round his neck--who exactly was this person? Or rather, even, what?

"Oh," she then peeped, still not finished or satisfied with her examination, but she forced herself to take a small step back, heels echoing against the pavement. "Hm, of course." She kept her stare up, though, not wishing to be rid of this unusual individual just yet. Had she even seen him around before? His pins foretold that he was a second year, but she hadn't seen him about the buildings--and she'd remember someone like him.

"Hey, you," came her following prompting, reaching out with a hand to try and grab his attention again, before she drew it back toward her again. "Are you advertising a club here, styleguy?"

[Kazuki]

Kazuki was pleased when the girl had started to move, already taking a step forward when a hand reached out towards him. He'd noticed her staring, thought nothing of it as he attempted to make his way past her. He was used to the glances he received from strangers, the quirky smiles and wide eyes. He imagined that to some he may have seemed like a foreigner with his strange hair and even stranger tan, but the truth was so much simpler. The earrings were a different story, though he didn't have the heart to take them off. His mother was a 'fashionista' after all, and if she learned he'd closed up the piercings she'd be simply heartbroken.

The hand was a bit of a shock though, and Kazuki took a step back again just to protect his beloved camera. It never made contact though, and he was surprised when she pulled back, taking a step away from him. Finally looking at the girl properly, he was surprised to see that she was a third year, a whole grade higher than him. Her sense of style was unique to this drab school and her hair? Well, even he had to admit that if that was real it was an excellent color. Probably closer to what he would have wanted if his sister hadn't decided to go from green to blue to pink in the span of a year.

"Hm? Styleguy, huh?" Well, that was a first. He wondered whether his look could truly be considered 'stylish,' but pushed it away for a more interesting thought. This girl was one of the few people here not running from booth to booth. Could it be that she was shy? Or maybe... maybe she was different? Could it be that he'd finally found his people at this school.

"Advertising a club, I'm afraid not. Everything here is a bit too.... sociable for me, if you catch my drift," he shrugged, the red makeup at the corners of his eyes crinkling as he narrowed his eyes, "I prefer smaller, more personal experiences than these.... things." He spat out the last word as though it sicked his very soul to say it. Still, he kept the smile going, the charm not quite reaching those thin eyes of his.

"Besides, I'm a new student. I don't really have a club to advertise yet. Why, are you advertising something?" Something interesting, something new? Would she be able to hold her own against his expectations, would she prove herself to be a chosen one just like him? He was practically shivering at the thought of it, eagerly awaiting her response as the two of them stood there.

[☆ SCOUT]

'A bit too sociable,' he'd said, but in a way that she had a feeling of what he might've actually meant. He then went on to define it, speaking of more personable clubs with smaller populations and tighter relations, the kinds that fueled real bonds and, ultimately, cliques that were usually inseparable. She could see how he might see the desire to crave that; the bonds would be tighter and more numerous than they might normally be, potentially even lasting beyond the scope of primary education.

She mentally checked it off as a maybe.

Brows raising as he mentioned he was a new student as well, she chuckled at bit at his shot back of her initial question of whether she was advertising a club.

Daintily shrugging a shoulder, she blinked slowly to the beat of her answer. "Hmm... can't say I am. I'm a new student too, after all," she replied simply, taking another step back and folding her arms, trying to keep out of the way of the flow of traffic a bit more consciously. "But, well, you could say I'm in the same boat in trying to find a club. All of these are just..." She pulled a face, matching the feeling she'd gotten from his previous dissatisfaction. "Y'know?"

[Kazuki]

Kazuki was surprised by her statement, but he supposed there were all kinds of people at this school. Third years being new students were uncommon but not unheard of. Had his parents caught wind of his unfortunate crippling social life even a little later then he probably would be in the same place as her. At least that made her an outsider as well then.

"I know what you mean," he replied, allowing for his nice-guy mask to slip for only a moment. His face twisted into one of disgust as he looked around at the masses of students moving around them. Just as quickly as it contorted it smoothed back out and Kazuki closed his eyes, looking at peace with their surroundings.

"I feel as though I'll lose out on the whole high school experience if I don't join one, and I'm sure my parents would like to hear I've become 'involved' at this school. They've already given up trying to get me into sports so school clubs is all they have left."

He sighed while he made air quotes around his choice of words, shrugging while he stepped around some of the clumsier students. They really had to get out of this crowd, it was starting to get a bit obnoxious. "Would you want to head closer towards the exit maybe? I don't think we'll last long if we stay in the area, and I'm sure you've got a few good club ideas you're just waiting to make a reality

[☆ SCOUT]

She was quick to notice the brief lapse in his expression, smiling at the sight; she wasn't sure what quite to read into it via, but she liked the look of it. It was quick to disappear though, coved up by his smoother features back into the--was it actually tightness?--that she had first seen him with.

"Hmm, is that so," she hummed at the thought; parental pressure, that never had a very fun sound to it, no matter how much you tried to phrase it. There was really no good way to put a twist on it, unfortunately; she might've thought she felt a shake coming from the egg she'd stowed away in her bag at the though, but she wrote it off instead as merely her own imagination. "Mm... Sports. You end up getting all that muscle. Yuck." Granted, muscles were nice on others, but when it came to her, she thought that it would certainly ruin her slight and dainty figure.

She threw another smile over her shoulder at his provocation, intrigued by his words. "Club ideas? Me? Ohh, you're funny, styleguy. But maybe I have a few ideas--starting a club sounds like a hassle though, hmm." She seemed to have agreed, though, starting toward the exit and urging for him to follow. "It's so noisy here anyway. I bet you have some too, huh?"

[Kazuki]

Kazuki made quick use of her consent to guide them both towards the front of the activities fair. The students here dwindled in numbers as most people either went back to the dorms or were busy visiting booths. It was so much easier to breath now that the he wasn't surrounded by those filthy livestock and he took a moment to compose himself. He really was just so sick of this school already.

"My club ideas... I guess humanitarian committee?" He wasn't actually sure what he'd want to start but he knew he wanted to keep it small, "Working with locals at shelters and other foundations to feed the poor and build houses for the homeless. It's terrible how few teenagers are interested in helping their community these days, positively disgusting."

He shrugged before continuing, holding up his camera to take a quick shot of a passing bird. Less people meant more animals for him to photograph. "Or maybe a nature club, something without so many people. I don't have many hobbies, mostly photography and religion if you could even call that last one a hobby. It's more of a lifestyle, if you know what I mean."

[☆ SCOUT]

She almost choked as he offered up the idea. "Humanitarian committee?" she echoed in wonderment, looking at him as if he had three heads. The ideas that then went on to follow--working with shelters, building houses for the homeless... who was this guy? Her entire opinion of him took a huge one eighty at that very moment, and she was positively grinning at how utterly shocked she was at these suggestions. Even his later ones, which were still more tame, like nature club were completely beyond the fathoming of her pampered brain.

It wasn't untrue that she was one of those teenagers utterly disinterested in helping their community--especially considering that this wasn't even her community, but rather one she'd only just recently arrived to. Disgusting was the word he'd used; though she couldn't deny that his emphasis and emotional involvement in the subject was quite interesting, at the very least.

"Those are certainly... ideas," she offered, veiling her disappointment in every single suggestion. "Would you really be able to organize something like that?" His leaderships skills, she didn't bother questioning or doubting, as she doubted he could possibly find any members. She almost would be tempted to join out of sheer pity... she was nice like that.

[Kazuki]

Kazuki scoffed. "Of course not, not with these students. I don't think anyone would truly be willing to work for free. Everyone wants some kind of compensation for their actions," he spoke with bitterness in his voice, clearly unimpressed by his classmates. Even his sister was starting to stray from the path of justice, preferring to hang out with her friends than spend her weekends doing something actually useful.

The girl before him didn't seem interested though, and he could feel his hope in her dying out. She was such a classy looking lady, she probably hadn't worked a single day in her life. He wondered for a moment whether she had an egg just like his. Would it be as dull as she was turning out? He wondered how it would feel to break it, even just a little crack on the side. He couldn't do that to his own of course, that would be dangerous.

"Maybe a clean up committee for the school grounds might work," he said, narrowing his eyes as he looked at her, "There do seem to be so many lost easter eggs lying about, it would be such a mess if someone accidentally stepped on them. Might as well throw them in the trash before they crack too much, right?" He smiled brightly with his last sentence, waiting to see what her reaction would be.

[☆ SCOUT]

"Hmm, I'm not so sure about the latter," she remarked; while she could for certain say that she doubted there would be any students interesting in doing any of that kind of work, there were always those overachievers willing to offer volunteer time, looking for good-looking things to put on applications to universities or companies to work for. And though she wasn't one of those types, she did tend to lean toward doing volunteer work (as long as it wasn't too laborious)--it was good for her image, good for her family's standing.

But a 'Cleanup Committee' was definitely not something that she would bother with. Cleaning up meaning being around things that weren't clean--and that was most definitely out of her realm of things she was willing to take part in.

A frown crossed her, though, as he mentioned something about eggs, and breaking them. "Eggs?" she echoed, face twisting carefully into something less-approving. She felt a twinge of something in her chest, and though she hadn't realized it, her egg had given the tiniest of wiggles from within her bag. "What are you getting at, exactly? That's quite a... specific choice of examples. On both accounts." His smile wasn't particularly pretty in this context, either.

[Kazuki]

This conversation was taking a turn for the worse. Obviously this girl wasn't actually interested in anything that the boy could think of and she didn't seem to have any ideas of her own. Perhaps it was fate that he didn't end up in any type of club. He'd have more time for personal activities such as photography and homework which would surely take up the majority of his day. He was a good student, despite what people assumed about his appearance. In due time he'd prove himself academically, and then his position in the school would be secure enough that he could go about 'fixing' some of the more problematic students in his classes.

"Well, judging from my twenty minute bus ride to the academy, there seems to be an egg theme in this quaint little town," Kazuki had noticed more than one egg-themed shop along the way, though whether they were all part of the same franchise was still unknown. Could this area's mascot be an egg? He didn't remember reading anything like that in the brochures for the school, "And there's just so many painted ones scattered around the school. I'm sure you've noticed by now, even if you are new."

It was quite hard to miss the round objects when they invaded nearly every living space of the students. "Some of them just have the ugliest patterns. I'd hate to let people have to see those kinds of eggs. It would do some good to start getting rid of a few, the unsightly ones that don't have a place in this world," he was no longer looking at her but focused on an egg sitting only a few feet behind her. It had a poorly painted heart on it, most likely done by someone with a shaky hand, "They're just such an eyesore, you know?"

[☆ SCOUT]

"Hm... now that you mention it, I have seen a few," she offered. Had that been what he was referring to, though? Still, it was a weird thing, that she was sure about. He went on to start teasing at them, calling them ugly and speaking of disposing of them. Was that really necessary, though? she thought; certainly they were at least there for a reason, or something or other.

"Are they?" she decided to stand her ground, weight shifting to one foot as she leaned her hip ver it. "I think they're kind of quaint... charming, in a way. Sure, sure of them are, like, kind of crude, but there's heart in them, you know?" A pause, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I mean... don't get me wrong; I wouldn't want one, but they give the place character, you know? My old school had nothing like that, so it's kind of, like, endearing, I guess."

Noting his eyes were fixated elsewhere, she shrugged it off. For a guy with good aesthetic taste, she was starting to write him off; maybe he wasn't quite as cool as she'd initially flagged him to be; what a shame, she mused, that his personality was ugly.

[Kazuki]

"So... you don't have one then?" Kazuki asked as smooth as he could manage. he was starting to stare the girl up and down. She seemed to have a fondness for them but it wasn't apparent yet. If she really didn't have an egg then his life would be so much easier. He could avoid her for the rest of his school days and go about dealing with whatever those strange little things were.

"The egg, I mean. I've seen people taking quite a liking to them and I suppose snatch a few of their own. I figured someone as... charming as you would definitely be interested in having a matching one..." Then again, things like Gudetama were incredibly lame and childish. If this girl had an egg charm it couldn't be anything less than splendidly gaudy in nature.

How did one approach the topic of eggs? It was a weird enough item as it is, but there was almost no foundation as to why he'd be interested outside of the strange appearances of them around the school. Maybe he should really join a club, get some hours in and maybe meet a few new people. But he just hated that kind of social commitment so very much.

[☆ SCOUT]

She gulped, unsure of the implications in his tone. Were they still talking about the painted eggs on campus, or were they talking about... the other kind of eggs? Did he have one too? It definitely seemed as if he were trying to get toward a topic, but was hesitant about approaching it. Was this sort of thing worth being secretive over? Was it a bad thing? Or was he just weird about talking about it? What exactly was the connotation here?

Scout bit her lip, looking to him with a hard expression but with hesitation in her eyes. Turning her gaze down, she began searching through the bag strung over her shoulder, before she pulled out her egg, holding it up with three fingers, but still keeping it as close to her as possible. "You mean, like, one of these?" she tried, seeping a fake confidence into her voice for the sake of getting him to talk. Rotating the blue and white egg in her fingers glinted off of its window-like pattern. "Or, like, something else."

This guy was getting a bit creepy; she was wondering if she'd just made a mistake in showing him the egg. Hopefully not, she prayed internally, but she'd deal with the consequences if it had been.