It Ain't Ogikubo But It's Something

[conniemaheswaran]

Who: Closed to Connie and Kanji
When: Day After Second Retrieval
Where: Curti Center Gardens
What: Connie's finally made the time to meet up with Kanji again... but something's troubling her.
Warnings/Notes: Guilt, mentions of Futaba's worse moments


The garden, as always, is beautiful when Kanji arrives. The flowers are in full bloom, letting out a calming fragrance, and the light of the slowly setting sun filters through the leaves of the trees. Connie's there, just as she promised. But... something's wrong. There are heavy bags under her red-tinged eyes, and she listlessly picking at her ramen--a far cry from her enthusiastic attitude the last time they met.

Comments

[conniemaheswaran]

"I- I don't know!" Connie clutches at her forehead. She should be logical about this. Keyword should. But her brain wasn't being cooperative. "Probably not? I guess? But I keep thinking of all the little ways that everything could possibly go wrong if I try to apologize to her and how she'll hate me forever even though she's way too nice for that and gahhhhh emotions are hard."

[topgun_textiles]

"Emotions are pretty rough, sure. But y'don't know what'll happen until you try talkin' to 'er." He shrugged. Lot of people liked to assume the worst. What if nothing happened and everything got cleared?

But even if she got angry, or the worst somehow happened, how would anything be any different from right now? Connie's already beating herself up, and that was over a hypothetical.

"Either ya let it eat you up inside, or ya hitch up your pants and face everything head on and fight with everything you got. I mean, I speak from experience, y'know."

[conniemaheswaran]

Connie looks at Kanji, bags under her eyes. Underneath that... extraordinarily rough exterior, and a bit of the interior too, he really reminded her of Steven. Normally, that would probably be making things even worse, but now... well, now, being reminded that he existed wasn't actually too bad. "Yeah, you do, don't you?"

Sighing, Connie picks at her food, this time with slightly more enthusiasm. "Y'know, you really would have a field day with Steven."

[topgun_textiles]

"Either way, I dunno, I feel like you're makin' mountains outta molehills. I mean, I ain't gonna go into it, but I come from a town that had a raw deal where ya tell the truth and grow up or basically have your negative shit kill ya."

He shrugged. Casual.

"Huh? Why a 'field day'?"

A good question, since it could mean a lot of things. How weird that he would quietly be compared to the guy when he'd straight up be down for knocking the stupid Diamonds around.