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Post by MIKI ELAINE YASHIDA on Nov 16, 2011 7:00:52 GMT -5
It's the smell of curry.
Her eyelids flutter lightly, the curved eyelashes shaking with the energy coursing through her skin. The lids quake and are hidden under long fingers massaging them lightly. They pop open, like a switch turning on, like the breeze blowing a window open so suddenly. The eyes adjust to the lines of fluorescent lighting of the ceiling. Her skin feels light and airy, her shoulders sag after being hunched up for a while. Her legs stretch out and her arms reach for the ceiling. She feels the heat, the steam and the nearly stuffy heat of the room.
However, before all this she can smell it.
It's thick in the air and if it were a visible fog you wouldn't see a thing. It's not a stink, it's the spicy smell that invades her nostrils and makes her mouth water. Spicy curry. Fried pork cooked for hours upon hours, tossed together with carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, onions and potatoes. Cayenne pepper was tossed, with oil and flour. The roux is nice.
She's settled in a chair at the back of the kitchen, her body formerly bent over a desk. She's tired and it's been a long day at school but it's time for her favorite meal of the week. The spicy curry bowl is already waiting by the door to the restaurant, on a lilac colored tray with a can of Arizona Green Tea. Miki wastes no time in picking up the tray and heading into the restaurant.
Novembers in McKinley are chilly. They're cold but they're not at the miserable levels of December, where the snow is plentiful and toes become frozen from a simple walk to the local Walgreens. She sits by the front of the store, where the large glass pane windows are decorated with etchings of golden dragons and young ladies. The creatures look fierce and angry, while the young girls hide their mouths behind their hands; they look eternally happy, if not slightly teasing. The mauve colors of the walls are serious without being too severe. The black chairs and tables are spic and span.
People are laughing and smiling, talking about the upcoming elections and if they're go Sue or Hummel's way. The smell of curry is thick. Like Saki and soup, it's a best-seller around this time. Miki ties her hair into a messy bun, letting the bangs on the sides of her head tickle her cheeks and ears. She dips into her curry, into the white sticky balls of rice swimming in the sauce.
It tastes warm in her mouth, burns in her throat and lights a fire in her stomach. She loosens the bow around her neck, already uncomfortable in her uniform.
It feels like she's been sleeping while awake. A month has gone by and in a surreal way she feels like she hasn't lived it at all. However, she's happy.
She's happy because in the mundane setting of Lima, Ohio sometime as simple as hot curry can bring her back.
`notes :: IT'S BEEN A MOOOOOOOOOOOTNH?!!
`tags:: ANYONE AND EVERYONE
`outfit:: Sanpuku Uniform!
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Post by RILEY GRAYSON TAYLOR on Nov 23, 2011 16:40:46 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-image:url(http://i54.tinypic.com/2vafwqd.jpg), border: solid #ffffff 5px; width: 400px; height: 500px;] I suck. This is a bad idea. I should go home. Those were the only three thoughts passing through Riley Taylor's brain on repeat as he stood outside Sanpuku in downtown Lima. He could already see Miki through the intricate sketches on the windows at the front of the restaraunt. Maybe he was just nervous, but coming to visit her hadn't seemed like such a bad idea five minutes ago, and now that he was actually here, it was leaving a sour taste in his mouth. It wasn't even like he had something important to say. He just, um, missed her. It was even hard for him to think, let alone admit that that was why he'd come to surprise her. They hadn't really spoken since the dance, though, despite that the end of winter was quickly approaching and they still had a join AV club/yearbook project that needed doing.
He wasn't really sure where the whole dance thing left them standing, either. Riley figured it didn't mean much, but he was pretty confused about what had happened. He wasn't sure if that meant she liked him or not, or if it left them with some sort of label put on them - or worse, a 'status.' Statuses were the most horrible things in the world; Riley was sure. You never wanted to be almost-but-not-really dating someone or not-sure-but-probably dating someone. Riley was already bad enough as far as girls went and he didn't need to be even more confused. The whole 'status' thing just left him even more bewildered than usual. Which was why he needed answers, not that he would ever get up the courage to ask her out and finalize anything...because he was Riley, and Rileys just don't do stuff like that.
Riley crammed his hands into the pockets of his coat, finally deciding to just barge in through the door in all of his glory...not that it really worked that way. More like he walked in, saw Miki, turned bright red, and went, "Er...hi." He didn't know what else to say. He probably should have said something else, like, "Oh, fancy seeing you here!" or something that made him seem less ridiculous, but instead, he just kind of stood in the doorway like a creep, watching Miki eat and waiting for some kind of reply, even if it was a kick below the belt.
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Post by MIKI ELAINE YASHIDA on Nov 23, 2011 17:20:19 GMT -5
"Er...hi."
Like the spiced curry in the air it all came flooding back to her. The dance. Music vibrating the air, the heat of several bodies nearly plastered together, the booming of thumping feet on the wooden panels of the gymnasium floor. And eyes. Those came back first; before all the others those bright blues came first and she smiled. She smiled and her eyes crinkled at the ends slightly. Her face, though, took to her polite expression sooner than expected. It was a reflex. A way to defend herself.
They hadn't really talked in a month and the air between them at the end of that dance had been charged. Like a lighting storm without a single crackle to be had. They had fun, and expressed as much and said 'goodnight'. He was probably too scared. She definitely was. Standing up and bowing her head slightly, in greeting, she motioned for him to come sit in front of her. The curry was still steaming but her spoon was left dangling near the edge of the plate, slipping slightly until the handle touched the table.
"Hello." Miki said as she sat back down. She folded her hands on her lap but soon ignored that for brushing the bangs out of her eyes. Impulsively she undid the messy up-do she had in favor of a ponytail, keeping some small side bangs curling a the sides of her face. The day she decided her iron could take a break, he decided to visit.
She long wondered what this meant; she never considered what others would think or her appearance, or rather, she learned not to care. Having someone incite that need, the need to know if she looks, sounds or seems nice, was new, exciting and frightening.
"It seems we kept missing each other after the dance." Miki said and the small smile she usually wore, whenever Riley was around, appeared. "You didn't give me a chance to prove you look great in pictures if you don't try so hard to look 'socially acceptable'."
`notes :: ARE HIS EYES BLUE OR WAS THAT A GAFF ON MY PART?!!
`tags:: HALEY/RILEY
`outfit:: Sanpuku Uniform!
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Post by RILEY GRAYSON TAYLOR on Nov 23, 2011 18:38:21 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-image:url(http://i54.tinypic.com/2vafwqd.jpg), border: solid #ffffff 5px; width: 400px; height: 500px;] The pink tinge the cold had given Riley’s cheeks was already starting to fade with the warmth from the indoors as he slid into the seat across from Miki. A smile crossed his face, growing even more when he remembered her at the dance in her dress, completely let loose by the music. The most prominent memory he had of that night, though, was walking her to her door and wondering what to do next. Probably should’ve kissed her… Riley thought, the voice in his mind a low grumble, not that I would’ve known what to do if I tried. He shook the thoughts out of his head, easily disguised as him shaking his sandy-blond, bangs out of his eyes, and refocused back on the present. Riley watched as Miki put her hair up into a ponytail, sort of mesmorized, and took a deep breath. The smell of the curry she was eating filled his nose; if he hadn’t had lunch before he came, his stomach probably would’ve started attacking him right about now.
“Yeah, seems like it,” Riley muttered, another small smile sneaking its way across as she spoke, then said a bit louder, “I don’t really think I belong in the same sentence as ‘socially acceptable,’ but I guess I do owe you a picture.” His smile grew a bit. For some reason, he was reminded of their first meeting for their project, when a slideshow of the pictures Miki had taken over the summer had popped up. It didn’t surprise him that all he could remember clearly was complaining about his picture; he never liked being on camera. But he supposed he could make one exception for Miki, since she never got to take one during the dance…. Wow, never thought I’d be thinking that.
“I, um…so…” Riley started, not really sure how to continue. He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. All he could think of to say were things that either wouldn’t come out the right way or...well, nothing he said ever came out the right way, but that wasn’t the point. He just didn’t want to sound stupid in front of her. With anyone else, it wouldn’t have mattered, because – like he told Miki before – he was never exactly socially acceptable in anyone’s standards. “I thought I’d just stop by to say hi. Since we hadn’t seen each other and everything.”
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Post by MIKI ELAINE YASHIDA on Nov 23, 2011 19:36:03 GMT -5
"I don’t really think I belong in the same sentence as ‘socially acceptable,’ but I guess I do owe you a picture."
"Ok, let's change that to 'Riley acceptable'. Who needs to conform to societal needs anyway? It's more like a pedestal people enjoy kicking you off of." Miki's words cut into the momentary silence after Riley's statement, which seemed to grow more every time the two interacted.
It seemed, more likely than not, that they become more and more entwined in their own thoughts instead of playing out what they'd like to; a relationship forming in the mind but limited to the imagination. Miki nearly frowned at this thought and realized that if they were to move forward, perhaps she should take the advice one of the waiter at Sanpuku had given her a while ago.
'Just drop really heavy hints. Like 'frying pan to the face' heavy.' Ah Ronald, such a sweet soul. Miki unfolded her napkin covered utensils and held out a soup spoon as she meditated over the situation.
"Hope you haven't eaten. I can't actually finish this plate by myself." She could finish two and a half curry and rice plates.
Riley really didn't need to know that.
His endearing shake of the head, and pregnant pauses only served to make her laugh but she kept it confined as she didn't want him to misinterpret her.
“I thought I’d just stop by to say hi. Since we hadn’t seen each other and everything.”
"Guess we didn't have enough free time before. School does that, add the pressures of work and extracurriculars and it's amazing that teenagers can still socialize." Miki ate a rather large piece of carrot and hummed happily at the sudden explosion of taste. The curry was particularly good today. "At least now I have some more free time. I've been pulling back on my hours so this weekend I actually get to do what I want."
[/color] She eyed Riley in hopes of some favorable reaction. He was a smart guy, being in the A/V club meant dealing with the logistics of Jacob Ben Israel and Lauren, so he would probably get it. Unless his ability to pick up cues had softened over the years and his skill was weak. In which case she'd need something to help. Glancing to her right and out the large windows of the restaurant, MIki spotted a movie poster for the latest incarnation of the Muppets. She recalled moments of her infancy where she sat and watched them on the television. She used to do so with such eerie intent and silence that her parents took her to a psychologist (only to discover she enjoyed it by herself and silently because her siblings were too loud and she wanted to be as smart as the Muppets were). `notes :: ALMOST KISS. YOU TWO ARE IDIOTS. KISS THE GIRL. (ignore the soda hyper chii) ?!! `tags:: HALEY/RILEY `outfit:: Sanpuku Uniform! [/font][/color][/size] [/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote] |
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