[AQ] Braving the Storm [Fuka/Sunako]

[Sunako]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Stormy Panic
+ Description: A storm has knocked out the power in the school building shortly after classes have ended for the day; it seems to nasty outside to leave, though the building is pretty deserted, save for one or two other people who got stuck.
+ Stay put, wait out the storm: -1 Guardians, +2 Faberge
+ Venture out to try to get the power back on: +1 Guardians, +1 Faberge
+ Sneak into the staff room while no one’s around: -2 Guardians, +1 Roost
+ Look for someone else who may be stuck: +2 Guardians, -1 Roost
+ Go out into the storm itself: -1 Faberge, +1 Roost
+ Requirements: None
+ Submitted by Hatta

There had been a couple times when her twin brother Yuki had been stuck in school during a storm. She remembered her and her family desperately called him both times, and had to pick him up at school. The second time he was drenched and his mom forced him to not do anything besides drink a hot bowl of soup and sleep so he wouldn't get sick. She really wondered if he got stuck or just wanted to get out of either working at the restaurant or working at Faberge and used the rain as an excuse. It was silly. The power couldn't have shorted out twice, in a storm, when he was there after school.

But now she was stuck in the same situation.

There was a big math test tomorrow, so she requested a day off from her usual practice to study in the library. Math was a weak subject for her, but she made up in studying a lot when she could. She really should've gotten tutoring though - her brother said an acquaintance of theirs headed the math club at school - because she kept getting stuck at the more difficult equations, so much that she ended up finishing other homework instead. And she was about to go back into trying to solve the leftover problems when the power shut off. It was really only then she realized how much the rain was pouring out there.

She closed her textbook. It wouldn't do her much good if she couldn't read anything. But maybe she could beat the storm and head home. Her brother said it was almost impossible to get the power back on without a janitor, and considering how late it was, she was sure they left for the day. So she stuffed her bag with her supplies, hid it under her coat, and walked out the building. Unfortunately her coat didn't have a hood, but as long as she ran to the nearest bus stop she should be fine.

As she took her first few steps into the rain, her hair was already soaked. And it was windy too. But she was determined to get as much studying as she could. How else would she be able to get into 3-A next year if she couldn't get through something like this? So she kept on heading out - even as lightning flashed and thunder rumbled in the background.

Fuka

[Fuka]

He'd been on his way to the library when the power went out--stuck in the stairwell of the second floor when the lights suddenly decided to kick the dust, leaving him in pitch blackness on the middle of the staircase. "Well, this is nice," he'd spoken to himself aloud, hearing the words reverberating all the way up to the roof exit, and down to the first floor.

The rain was banging violently against the windows, the thunder rattling the panes when it came in and illuminating the space too quickly to actually catch any sight of anything for sure; but Fuka made his way down to the first floor guided by the light of his smartphone, instead; it wasn't a perfect solution, but it did what it needed to considering the circumstances.

They were still inconvenient circumstances, though; a pain, really, as they were keeping him from his study time at the library; granted, that building was probably out of power too, but at least he could feel productive and reputable by being there; instead he was trapped at the school building, doomed to isolation after most had gone home. He still needed to study, too; despite the fact that he was in 2-A (and had every intention of remaining to 3-A next year), his true aptitude was more appropriate to 2-C, and he had to work significantly harder in order to keep up; but his status in the best class was too important to his reputation to lose or let slip.

And so he'd taken a seat by the front doors, protected by the concave entrance as the rain poured down in front of them, but it was lighter outside than in, and it gave him (aided by his phone) just enough light to actually be able to see. He'd wait out the storm from here, he figured, or at least until it was calm enough to head through it without an umbrella and not get thoroughly soaked.

There was a surprise to him, though, when someone had moved past him to try and head out into the storm itself; another girl in his year, or--no, wait, the face was familiar; he'd met her before, hadn't he? Just recently. Was she really going to try to walk out into this storm? ... Rescuing her from it could've been good for his image, too.

And so he cast his books to the floor beside him, getting up to dash over, aiming to take her by the wrist and pull her back out of the storm. "Suna-san! It's dangerous to do that, you shouldn't brave this storm!"

(Did he sound heroic yet?)

[Sunako]

Suna had only taken a few more steps more when she thought she'd taken a good amount towards the bus stop. So she was surprised someone grabbed her wrist to stop her - there were people still here? - and even more surprised to see that it was her dance student from the event the other day. She blankly looked at him even though rain was starting to soak through her uniform. "But, I have to study...how can I study if there's no light around?"

But a loud boom echoed behind. Was the lightning closer than she thought? She turned her head back and saw another lightning bolt flash in the sky. ...how foolish of her to think she could outrun a storm. She blushed - to think someone else was there to see this - but at the same time, he did stop her from going out there in the first place. So she walked back a couple steps and turned toward him, trying so hard to stifle her embarrassment. "...I...you're right. Thank you."

She walked back with him inside the building. When they were successfully inside, she bowed toward him at a 90 degree angle so she could continue to hide her face, but she bowed so fast the water on her hair whipped off toward his face. When she got up, she noticed a few drops on him. She bit her lip. That wouldn't do. She wriggled her wrist out of his grip to open the bag she had been holding with her other hand inside her coat to find something she could wipe his face.

"I thought you'd never open this bag! I was dying in here!" Firiel squeaked. She was under a pack of tissues, her egg right next to her. "I can't believe you spent all your time studying when you could be dancing like the star you are, kiddo!"

Suna shook her head and grabbed the tissues. She was just gonna pretend Firiel didn't sneak into her bag again. She handed the pack of them to him. "So sorry. I ..I should probably dry out somewhere..." she said. She looked away from him, opened the door once more and wrung out her hair first. At least the entrance had some kind of awning to protect her from the rain. As for her shirt...well, as long as it was covered by her coat she should be fine, but it would be pretty cold...and she was already leaving this trail of water...she wiped as much water off her coat and closed the door as quick as possible, so it wouldn't be so cold for the two of them.

Firiel, on the other hand, was curious as to who Suna was talking to, so she freed herself from her bag when she saw - a boy? And outside - it was raining? Hard? And the power was out? Holy crap. This was the opportunity she'd been waiting for! She flew around in glee! She could be witnessing a real life shoujo manga scene! And damn was this school lacking in non-egg related drama, so she was extremely happy!

But...was it her, or could that boy see her too?

[Fuka]

Thankfully, she'd come to her senses, and they made their way back inside after a particularly loud and violent crack of thunder?! The flash was almost instant, so he figured it must've been right over them; he couldn't deny the fact that his heart had skipped a couple of beats at the enormous boom; he wouldn't adnit that, of course, but he was terribly relieved when she moved back into the school. "Wouldn't want you fried out there, would we?"

He took a deep breath afterward, offering her a smile in the dark before she replied with a deep bow; catching her shadow moving to that action, he matched it (even if not as deeply), only to end up feeling a wet thwap to the face--was that her hair?!

It seemed like she'd instantly taken an initiative to get something to dry off (which he vainly appreciated, but tried not to voice and unsuccessfully attempted to keep off his face (at least it was dark?)), only for... Another voice to appear?

"Studying?" he echoed at first with curiosity, before realizing that the voice was in fact very not Suna's, and a small floating figure had joined their group of shadows. "Oh!"

He paused excitedly for a few beats as he got his words together, bouncing a little as he did so. "You've got--" he looked the sprite clearer in the face; or where he thought her face was based on her shadowy silhouette. "You're one of those little fairies! Oh, that's so neat," he started excitedly, leaning back on his heels with all kinds of enthusiasm, looking back and forth between Suna and her Guardian Character. "I have some too--but I told them to go ahead to the library without me earlier! They aren't here, it's such a shame. What's your name, small friend?"

[Sunako]

Firiel leaned closer to see the new boy in front of her after she realized he could in fact see her. It was still pretty dark, but with the help of a lightning bolt that flashed overhead, she perked up! Sure she couldn't spy on them and do fun, pranky, get two random people closer together kind of stuff - but she could manage. "Ohoho! I think you're pretty neat too, boyo! The name's Firiel. I'm more of a witch than a fairy, though. Since my job here is to transform this girl here into a shining star on stage! Isn't that right, Suna-chan?

Suna on the other hand was just ignoring her. Now that she was dry, she wanted to figure out a way to start studying again, and she was checking how much battery life was left on her phone. And thank goodness, her textbook hadn't been damaged. All she wanted was to pass this test tomorrow so she could concentrate on practice for the next few days, since her next concert was coming up - why did this storm had to come at this very crucial moment? She got up and looked at Fuka - who she could see a little better, now that night vision was kicking in - and tilted her head. "You wouldn't happen to have a flashlight or something with light...would you? There's a big math test tomorrow..."

"Is this really the time to study?" Firiel asked again. Sometimes Suna was just too focused. Opportunity was right in front of her! The witch rubbed her forehead. There had to be something she could do so Suna could at least talk to someone - someone that Suna might actually consider being friends with, at least! - when she remembered what the boy said about his own characters. "Wait! You can't study! His guardian characters might be stuck in the rain...lonely...cold...missing their lovely bearer...Suna-chan, you can't just leave them there, can you?"

Suna, who hadn't been listening earlier, was shocked. Well one, did that mean he had more than one character? And two, why were they separated? She really needed to study, but...as she learned more and more, eggs and characters were important and needed to be protected so a person could hopefully achieve their dreams. "...are they going to be okay?" she asked him. Maybe Firiel was overreacting again. It wouldn't be good to make a fuss about nothing.

Firiel, on the other hand, was gladly accepting this small victory. She just hoped that Fuka would make use of it.

[Fuka]

"Ohhhhhh, so neat! Hello Firiel, you can call me Fuka," he chimed, seeming all too pleased that he was having a conversation with the small Guardian Character; there was still so little he knew about them, but it was fascinating to get to meet so many that were around--how had he never noticed them all before? He hadn't yet been clued into the fact that only those also with Guardian Characters or eggs could also see them--he would've thought that he was simply being too ignorant all along to notice, or that only once you believed in them, were they actually there. Then again, what all part of this actually made any real, logical sense anyway?

"A flashlight?" he'd then chirped in echo, before holding up a finger, pausing, and then reaching for his phone again; the screen blazed to life as he woke it up, before reactivating his flashlight app, which turned on the flash of the phone's camera, and left it on. "Does that work okay? ... And do you need help studying? I'm in 2-A," he boasted low-key, seeming pleased with himself, despite even wondering if he could help at all, considering math was his weakest subject; but the fact that he could offer, and had the credentials to back up that offer was an opportunity too tempting to try and resist for upping his image in the eyes of a classmate.

As Firiel spoke up about Fuka's own Guardian Characters, though, he waved off her worries with a dismissive hand and a small laugh. "They'll be fiiiiiiine, I'm sure; really, the only thing to every worry about with them is, weeeeeeeeeell, dealing with each other," he tried to laugh off with a flippant tone. "They're getting better, though?" A confirming nod. "Besides, it's, well, wayyy too dangerous for us to go out there right now, anyway. I'll meet up with them once the storm's passed a bit?" He straightened up a bit, too. "Besides, if Suna-san needs help, yeah?"

[Sunako]

"Fukachin, huh? You're pretty cute! Not as cute as me, but you'd be like a good 7/10 I think!" She flew around him happily, if partly for the opportunity for fun things to happen. Unfortunately Suna and Fuka decided to just study after all, so she deflated a bit. Although she was incredibly full of herself, she did care about other guardian characters - even that annoying hero that she had to deal with on a daily basis - so she went towards the door to look out the window for two supposedly feuding characters in the middle of storm.

Suna was happy to have some light, but she too worried about his characters. Too bad the storm had picked up so much that she wouldn't go out anytime soon. "You sure this is okay? You might kill your phone battery..." Still, she pulled out her textbook and homework. The day might not be a waste after all, especially if he was in 2-A. She pointed to the difficult problem she'd been working on earlier. "Has your class gone over this? I've been trying to solve it for hours...I'm sure this is on tomorrow's test, too. Really if you can explain it for me, I'd be so grateful."