Re: Huh, you look different [Asami, Lerna]

Wed Feb 23, 2022 9:07 am

Huh, you look different [Asami, Lerna] - Page 2 HEADER_sample-13f9cdb3e06a358db10b7ec2848236b2

Lerna smiled, unable to help but somehow enjoy the careful look that was behind Asami’s eyes as she gave her response a chuckle escaping her as she… made note of the woman’s thoughtful caution.

”The reason my appearance changed. Is because I was reunited with my sword. The sword Susanoo cut out of me. My original name was Uh… Orochi.” she noted with a big sheepish smile. ”Famous monster. And prisoner in the mugen. Experiment during the creation of mod souls. And now your very own specia needs student who can barely do hakuda because she is too used to her old body” she noted with a chuckle.

Wed Feb 23, 2022 9:35 am

Huh, you look different [Asami, Lerna] - Page 2 QBwp8R0

Furukawa Asami | Officer of the 5th

There was a moment, right as she delivered the crux of her truth, that Asami's gaze darkened. She grew dour, placing down the fork, and furrowed her brow before hiding her head in her hands. Then she laughed, it was a hearty laugh, heartier than it had any business being. She was smiling by the time her hands parted again, one now scratching at the back of her head innocently.

"You had me going there. Really did."

Of course, she didn't believe it. Being a mod soul was one thing, and impressively unique in its own right, but to actually claim to be a monster from distant mythology. Now that was a little further beyond the scope of Asami's ability to reasonably understand.

"You as the Orochi? I don't see it. You don't quite fit that villain persona anyway. Phew, okay, I need to calm down."

Burning the midnight oil | END POST

Thu Feb 24, 2022 11:25 am

Huh, you look different [Asami, Lerna] - Page 2 HEADER_b50d00eb1bf188ca38db3a4a65c4c3b0

Lerna couldn't help but smile, chuckling a bit herself as she watched the woman's reaction. She had to admit, it did sound like a pretty big joke. Even though some....tiny part of her actually gripped her chair hard enough that the wood creaked, a bit insulted that this woman doubted her. But it was fine. The rest of her smiled and ....relaxed slightly. It.....was possibly just... better that she not believe her. IT wasn't like she hadn't tried to tell her, so by human standards she'd done her due diligence by bringing this up. But well.....still. She sighed, rubbing her eyes lightly and looking a bit to the side.

"I guess I really did go a bit too far with that one." She hummed, closing her eyes and then taking another bite of her pancakes, looking back up to Asami and smiling lightly. ..Relieved. "Still......thank you. I know all this information probably isn't ....easy to hear. And I'm sure you feel a little lied to, even if I had a good reason for not telling you. I'm glad that I have a teacher like yourself." She noted lightly, giving Asami a fond look. It definitely wasn't the sort of look a student gave their teacher. It was like.... an older woman, watching someone younger than them figure things out. In a way, she was ....proud? Of how Asami was handling all this. But she could also see Asami's young age from all this. The way that she simply dismissed the 'joke' instead of pushing further. But perhaps maybe that was Bias, Lerna wasn't the kind of woman wh was fine not investigating. Curiosity killed the cat but fed the serpent. Still, it was nice.

Fri Feb 25, 2022 9:17 pm

Furukawa Asami | Officer of the 5th

"No no, I appreciate you for trying to take the edge off things. I think it helped."

It surprised Asami herself that she genuinely felt more relieved by that whole little breakdown. But suddenly she was starting to feel like things weren't all that different again. She was an inquisitive person by her nature, but that did not make her paranoid enough to pick apart everything that Lerna was saying. For her to be a Mod Soul made sense, there was evidence to support as such if she thought back to it, but to be something more than that was a little too distant and had only the most tenuous of links to the situation at hand. Taking another bite of pancake, she did find herself considering it in just a little more detail before eventually dismissing the notion.

"You're a good kid. Maybe not the perfect student, but I've had my fill of those. If you need to confide in someone, my door's always open and I promise to judge you fairly. Can't always promise there will be pancakes every time, but it is not a zero per cent chance."

She chuckled along with her companion, noting that stare that she was receiving and knowing not quite where to place it. Some strange blend of pity and bemusement was what she interpreted it as first, but that made little sense so perhaps it was just a sign of their relationship changing little by little. Lerna wasn't going to be a student forever anyway, dare Asami think that they might be close enough to become friends after that? Was that going too far?

Burning the midnight oil | END POST

Sat Feb 26, 2022 7:36 pm

Lerna smiled lightly, pleased at the least that Asami seemed to be relaxing a little from that little exchange. Ah right, she forgot that Humans like to diffuse tense situations with jokes. She didn't actually think Asami the type for that, but it seemed to have worked pretty well. She smiled, her expression changing as she simply....admired the woman. Pleased that she seemed ....so unbothered by all of this. True she ...had denied the more sinister aspect, but everything else? She took in stride. She couldn't help but like that. She felt.....safe. And all the more, the words of ....encouragement.... and support. They weren't words she'd have expected from a shinigami who knew what she was.

She closed her eyes and looked to the table, smiling softly as she imagined where she'd be without someone like this. There was Magnolia and Murasaki, but frankly they had been so busy it was......different. She had little time to really connect with them. but with Asami she COULD. "Thank you. It ...means a lot to hear you say that. I know not every shinigami will have the same view as you. Some may come to dislike me. Others.... may simply come to see me as ....not a person. A tool. But....at the very least I'm happy that there are those that seem me as you do." She noted in soft, earnest warmth.

Sun Feb 27, 2022 9:37 pm

Furukawa Asami | Officer of the 5th

"You think for yourself, act for yourself, succeed or fail by your own hands. That makes you as much a person as anyone else, I think. I do not know the exact makeup of your being, how exactly you think or make decisions, but I know that you do and that is enough for me."

Taking another mouthful of pancake, and leaving behind a lick of cream upon her top lip, Asami did muse upon her limited knowledge of Mod Souls. Wait. Did she even need to eat or drink? Or breathe? Was Lerna just humouring her base needs for sustenance or did she enjoy the game of pretending? Certainly, she must have had to get good at it. To live amongst them all and act as they did without falling too far out of line. There was a quiet note of admiration toward the other woman for her commitment to such a deception.

"So don't go placing me on a pedestal, or anything crazy like that. This should be how you expect people to treat you, normally. Let those that would think less of you be down in the dirt, for they are not worth standing alongside."

A pretty hamfisted statement and it did appear that she hadn't noticed the misplaced cream, but Asami's smile was as genuine as they came. Matching Lerna's warmth with her own, she was a bastion of goodwill and fair judgement. That was certainly something the teacher prided herself on.

Burning the midnight oil | END POST

Sun Feb 27, 2022 9:51 pm

Lerna smiled lightly at that and chuckled softly as she watched the woman, con....sidering her point of view. She wasn't sure if she'd go quite that far. She already had troubles with seeing Shinigami as merely food. Humans as well. She wasn't sure if falling back on such .....diminutization was really healthy for her facade. She sighed, enjoying the ....simplicity with which the woman spoke. That humans and souls could just SAY such things, but also be built upon a foundation of so much social training. She rubbed her eyebrows for a moment before looking back up to the woman. A soft lick of her thumb, swiping the errant cream.

"Dunno if that qould QUITE be the play. But I know what you mean. I guess I ...HAVeEkinda been assuming the worst of shinigami." She noted, not that it wasn't justified with the,....you know....mod soul genocide. She hmphed a bit and smiled, lightly licking her thumb clean before taking another bite of her pancake. "You are right though. I....really should put my standards a bit higher. Not that that'll keep you from meeting them." She noted with a light chuckle. "And hey uhhh if you have like....questions? I don't mind answering. I'm sure there's a lot on your mind."

Sun Feb 27, 2022 11:05 pm

Furukawa Asami | Officer of the 5th

Sitting there opposite Lerna, and having taught Asami had quickly grown used to her errant stares. So, as the woman seemed to focus upon something just below her eye level, she thought nothing of it. Another comment had been ruminating in her mind, nothing of particular import anyway, and then suddenly Lerna's thumb was dancing across her lips.

"Wha..? Oh. Uh, thanks."

Her cheeks flushed with colour, painting themselves a shade of crimson that was far closer to her fascinators than it had any business being. It had all been so abstractly innocent, and yet it took Asami by surprise still. Laughing nervously, she had to assume that nothing had been meant by it. Lerna didn't look all that bothered.

"Yeah, uh. Hah. I suppose there are more than a few questions I wouldn't mind the answer to. Like how old are you then? Do you even know? How did you get here?"

Burning the midnight oil | END POST

Sun Feb 27, 2022 11:20 pm

Huh, you look different [Asami, Lerna] - Page 2 HEADER_34b0525fb4170b2b3a78bfa6b478881a

Lerna did seem rather blasé about the entire thing. At least until she noticed Asami's reaction to it. A pause, her brows lifting for just a moment, but making no other reaction to the fact, keeping it in mind as she listened to her teacher, drumming her fingers lightly as she took a moment to consider, before she smiled. "You're welcome." She replied warmly, before closing her eyes and considering the questions.

Hm. She let her thumb rest on her lower lip and her tongue dipped out to lightly brush it, as if to clean off the last vestiges of residue, eyes drifting open as she let her gaze drift thoughtfully off to the side. Hmmmmm. "I was a prototype to Mod souls. So I'm a bit older than most. I was a material used in early techniques involved in the process. The fact that I succeeded was just a fluke. Before the mod souls were artificial, they simply mutilated existing souls." Her voice calm, matter-of-fact. Despite the faint twinge of her upper lip in contained scorn and hatred at the memory. "I was in storage before that time though. So I'm afraid I really don't know how old I am. As for how I got HERE?" She glanced back up to Asami. Smiling again. "Aside from being invited by my very lovely instructor, I ran into Captain Murasaki and Vice Captain Magnolia in the world of the living. They made not of my ......suitability and I received their recommendations to be brought into the Shino Academy as a substitute Shinigami. "

Mon Feb 28, 2022 6:15 am

Furukawa Asami | Officer of the 5th

She knew that she should have paid the whole gesture no heed, almost certain that she would have acted similarly had their roles been reversed, but Asami's eyes did dart away from Lerna's to watch her thumb even as she was telling her story. Not that Asami wasn't paying attention to the response, she was certainly diligent enough to manage that much.

"You were one of the prototype Mod Souls? I don't even know when that was..."

That certainly put her age at somewhere far beyond Asami's own, but it had been spent in storage for the most part. Though what did that entail? It sounded rather horrible for a living thing to be placed in storage, even if it was some kind of research experiment. Nothing deserved such a fate.

"Well, if nothing else, I'm happy that you're here rather than wherever you were before. So if I played even a little part in making that happen then I'm glad."

Burning the midnight oil | END POST