[ She considers calling him. It’d be much harder for him to lie about whether or not he’s coughing petals if they're talking on the phone, but then, that works both ways, doesn’t it? A glance at the petals in her free hand and it's decided with the same firmness with which she'd decided to get in touch with him after learning about the disease.
He's new to this world and she isn't risking a temporary deprivation of her newest playmate because of some stupid wanna-be hanahaki. ]
[ He has to squint at the name that comes through with the text. No one here has contacted him yet and part of him was expecting to see Mina or Okonogi's name appear- but now, it's Nao?
Huh, the petals, the fever, has she been stalking him? He wouldn't put it past her. ]
Nao-chan, hey! ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
Huh? What fever? Oh no~ Are you sick? Is this some ploy to get someone to bring you flowers for your bedside? I mean I could come look after you, make those cute bunny-apple segments to cheer you up.
[ Okay, okay, okay. It's not like she can blame him. She wouldn't want some stranger she just met sticking his nose in this kind of business, but... yeah, no, she's blaming him, especially for bringing up those bunny-apple segments. They are cute. They would cheer her up.
She's going to drop him in a lake. ]
soooooo ur n Dnial got it!!
u do realize death doesn care about that right?? (⊃‿⊂)
[ What~?! He hasn't done anything wrong, has he?! Listen, he still might come over and make those bunnies for her... Kind of sucks being on your own when you're ill, and if she is suffering from the same affliction then there's no chance of them infecting each other at least. ]
Isn't that a river in Egypt???
Death doesn't care about what? How busy I am spitting out petals? Wait, ppl have DIED from this? ⁀⊙෴☉⁀
[ She's not touching that joke. She is not acknowledging it in any way he can perceive. Nevermind that she unwittingly set it up for him. She will not admit that to him.
No. ]
have u srsly not ben payin attentin? i mean i kno im cute an distracting [ This is an indisputable fact. ] but u still gotta B aware of ur surroudings
[ Her silence over the joke says it all~ He knows you get it. He knows you either want to laugh and hate him for that OR you don't get it and he's annoyed you. Either way, he wins! ]
Attention to what? Yea, that's facts. I should stop scrolling your gram and get some work done huh?
[ You dangle the bait and he will bite, ma'am! ]
Wait but, hanakai disease isn't real Even if it was, doesn't it just affect ppl experiencing unrequited love?
LE GASP! ✿♥‿♥✿ Nao-chan! Is this your way of saying you luuuv me? And to think, we've not even been on 1 date yet! What would my father say?!
[ Oh, 'grams. She misses them so much. She misses social media. She misses the Internet! Why couldn't they have developed an internet analog here already? If what he typed was only half true, she could hack him properly and oh, the fun she would have with him! If these stupid phones were anything near proper at all even -- oh, what a cruel joke!
[ But she didn't miss that little bit of teeth. It's kinda cute, like those little fangs-like incisors she noticed he's got. Hard to miss those, but at least he knows what's what.
He's not being serious, of course. Just trolling and that's okay. She misses trolls. Gods, she misses them and the forums! Oh, the forums. ]
[ It's like someone hit her square in the chest with just the right amount of force to knock the air out of her. She should've known. She should've braced and been prepared to knock him right back, but something in her scrambles and slips and she can feel it. It's not a slightly warm, pink dusting pleasantly coloring her cheeks, but an unmistakable, flaring hot red that's nothing short of bright on her fair skin.
What the hell is going on?? The only part she should've known was where he was going with that. It was obvious. She might've even done the same, but the heat in her cheeks, brows raised, chest clenching part that makes her want to suddenly stand up and -- and what? What? No, that's a surprise, a surprise that sees her typing in caps before she wholly realizes that's what she's doing. ]
WHO SAID NETHING ABOUT TAT???? IDIOT! B SERIOUS!! I ONLY ASKED BC
[ Oh. She needs to backtrack, backspace quickly. She absolutely cannot send a message so clearly affected that -- oh. She sent it. ]
[ Oh, this was a critical misstep. What the hell even happened! It's a joke, clearly a joke. He's messing with her. She has absolutely no doubt, so what? And equally as importantly, how is she supposed to recover from that missent text? ]
[ Appears a few times on her screen after that capslock disaster. He's amused, really but he's also taking it seriously. Shitting himself that this is actually something real and deadly, not just some side effect of the potion he drank when he arrived. After all, he can turn into a Kitsune now, sprouting a few flowers doesn't seem as strange as it should have, all things considered. ]
Shesh, you almost broke your tailored tsun tsun image, giving me the caps treatment like that. No need to shout senpai! (⌐▀͡ ̯ʖ▀)
[ This really is serious huh? Man, and Hoshina doesn't even think his 'secret' is that relevant here. ]
Oh no. Do they know my secret? That I'm really a girl in a wig? That I'm 12 cats in a trench coat? That I have 2 left hands? That I invented the work fleek? That I've never been kissed? That my favourite movie is Twilight? That--
Sorry, coughing fit.
[ Hoshina stops typing for a moment to cough up a bunch of petals. ]
[ He just exasperates her a tiny bit and makes her want to shake the hell out of him a whole lot, that's all. Now that that's been established, she -- twelve cats in a trench coat? Oh, it's stupid to even consider that seriously! But she does love cats.
She shakes it off easily enough and continues reading, pausing at a certain question if only for a very, very brief moment. His last message is concerning. ]
[ He'd be so amused to know she was actually considering at least one of his fake lies to be the truth! She might have believed him had he said a fox in a coat but that seemed too obvious. ]
Where am I? Why? U gonna come bring me some broth? Pruning scissors might be better. I'm in bed you perv!
[ He snaps a pic and sends it to her. Just him laying in bed, covering his mouth, beady little eyes closed yet you can still see he's smiling... petals over the skin-tight black t-shirt he's wearing. ]
Dunno the name of the place. Some Dragonkin took me upstairs to bed when I passed out in the bar.
[ That depends whether he's referring to her consciousness or not because something has clicked and her soul is presently leaving her body at the sight of that pic. Thankfully, she manages to recover it, giving her head a violent shake and placing her phone down just long enough to give her cheeks a good slapslapSLAP.
Get it together, Mizushita!!
Of course, getting it together means assessing the situation properly and formulating a few plans of action before she takes action. Hoshina is a troll, a sly fox with a quick mind, and he's the most promising playmate she's had. While she's thought it in moments of exasperation, leaving him to die from the disease because death isn't permanent here has never been a real consideration, but the man is -- and she glances very briefly at her phone, pecking the keys to scroll down to the rest of the message so that the pic is at least a little out of the frame -- dangerous.
She likes it, that he's dangerous. It's good fun to tease the sheep, but sometimes, she craves a challenge. He isn't half-bad for that, not that she'll tell him, and there's... something else, something she shoves so violently to the back of her mind it almost sends her reeling.
Still, to be in close quarters with him like that in private, even with both of them sick... well, she doesn't exactly have a choice, does she? She could ask one of her friends to go in her place, but they wouldn't know what to ask, how to get to the heart of the matter. They'd be easily overwhelmed and there's a very good chance he wouldn't take them seriously and she'd wind up having to go, anyway.
Plenty of time to think on the way, she supposes. She caps a cough with a hand and swallows stubbornly.
Right. She needs coffee and she needs to move. She needs to get there and back before this worsens. He already passed out at least once that she knows of and he's... well, he's, uh, obviously in better shape than she is, so she should hurry. ]
dont worry about it
u need 2 focus on figuring out ur secret cause ur gonna tell it me
[ That and more. She's been wanting to learn more about him and she isn't about to pass up the opportunity. Two birds, one stone and all that.
She'll just have to be mindful of her health and the time. ]
ur coming over arn't u? can u just not? I'm fiiiiine really. dont worry.
[ He's actually a little terrified. He'd usually call up Okonogi by now, in a panic and have her talk some sense into him- but he doesn't have anyone... No friends as of yet, just a few people whos names he would recognize from talking to them on the Oracle. Nao is the closest thing to anything he has...
... And he wants to keep her close, become better friends and so on, so for her to come and see him when he's weak like this? It doesn't bode well. ]
Here. I'll be decent when u get here.
[ He drops the name of the Inn he's staying in, the Dragonkin looking after him, having convinced him it's best to be with someone when you're like this. ]
[ She'd been ready to tide him over with responses until she found him. He isn't the only one who has skill when it comes to Seeking. Stellari may not be her city, but it's a city and she's smart, resourceful, assertive when it comes to tracking people, things, answers down. She certainly wasn't asking for permission, not when its his life was at stake, but then he surprises her with the name of an inn and another rather important detail she'd have been sure to address herself before she got there.
Why the change of heart? She wonders, but thinks it's better not to question him now or perhaps at all about it. For some reason, she thinks he can trust his word this time. ]
thank u ill see u soon
[ No emoji this time. She's that serious about getting to him and she's on the move, stifling the occasional little cough along the way. ]
[ Soon isn't as soon as she would have liked, but it's still soon. Sometime after that last text, she finds the inn and is directed to the room he's staying in by the clerk at the front desk.
Under normal circumstances, she might've simply tested the door and walked in had it been unlocked and seemed safe enough. This time, she presses her door to the ear for a moment, listening, then draws herself back and knocks. ]
Hoshina-kun, you better be decent! You promised! [ She calls. ]
--Nyao~ You can come in, I'm purrfectly decent! Just having a wash!
[ He called out from inside the room, his voice sounding a little muffled on account of the mouthful of petals he just coughed up before she arrived.
When she does open the door, the first thing she will see is the bed he's taken over while he's sick. A body-shaped lump in it ( ps. it's just pillows and his jacket, but shhhh~ ) and a cat sitting on the pillow in a ring of flower petals and leaves. The cat, a black tabby with midnight blue eyes, currently licking its paw. The real Hoshina is propped up behind the door, having gotten up for a drink of water.
Is she really going to fall for this? If so, she should be expecting another 11 cats in here somewhere, right? ]
[ Nao's eyes slide from the cat to the door, a finger slowly, silently lifted to her lips for the benefit of the cat. What Hoshina likely doesn't realize is she's well within range to properly sense him now and she knew he was behind the door well ahead of opening it. In retrospect, she should have thrown it open, but with the way the building is made, it wouldn't have hit him, anyway.
That just leaves the present in which he's obviously feeling well enough to try to prank her like this. Oh, she's gonna get him. ]
Hoshina-kun!
[ She gasps and steps in hurriedly, leaving the door open as she approaches the cat on the bed. The gasp is very real as Nao has honed in on the cat's charm points. She doesn't know where he got the kitty from, but she's already determined he or she is coming back to the cottage with her when she leaves. ]
I didn't think you were serious about the twelve cats thing!
[ She kneels by the bed and leans forward so she can better observe the kitty as she continues her act except it isn't totally an act. She is, in fact, fawning over the cat.
So cute! ]
Shouldn't there be eleven more of you? I wonder where they could be.
[ She's going to pet the kitty because she deserves to pet the kitty. She's only become more deserving since she got there, but as she does, she's honing in on certain sights, scents. Should've put her air-filtering mask back on before she stepped in, but she's not sure how helpful it will be even when she does. She has to be quick to remove it when she coughs, after all. ]
You're not planning on playing a trick on me, are you? That'd be so mean!
[ Dabbing his forehead with the wet cloth he had in one hand, as he closed the door with the other, letting her know he was there. (Not knowing that she already clocked him the second she was in the building.)
Wobbling as he stepped forward, stumbling and catching himself by holding the post on the foot of the bed, doubling over, covering his mouth and spluttering out a handful of petals and a small splattering of blood as his laughter was clearly too much for his feeble lungs to handle right now. ]
Man, I was hoping you weren't that gullible, but no~
[ Tipping his head aside. He looked kinda shit, hair stuck to his face with sweat beads trickling down from his temples and a damp ring around the neck of his t-shirt. Eyes closed as they usually were, but there was a ring of black around them, bags that weren't there before. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
TEXT | un: pink.cloud | 2/16 Maybe
He's new to this world and she isn't risking a temporary deprivation of her newest playmate because of some stupid wanna-be hanahaki. ]
hey hoshina!!!
did u catch the fever?
r u coughin up petals??
dont lie 2 me OK? (⁰ ◕〜◕ ⁰)
no subject
Huh, the petals, the fever, has she been stalking him? He wouldn't put it past her. ]
Nao-chan, hey! ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
Huh? What fever? Oh no~ Are you sick?
Is this some ploy to get someone to bring you flowers for your bedside?
I mean I could come look after you, make those cute bunny-apple segments to cheer you up.
But I'm super duper busy.
1/2
Ugh, she should let him choke on the damned things!! ]
2/2
She's going to drop him in a lake. ]
soooooo ur n Dnial
got it!!
u do realize death doesn care about that right?? (⊃‿⊂)
no subject
Isn't that a river in Egypt???
Death doesn't care about what? How busy I am spitting out petals?
Wait, ppl have DIED from this?
⁀⊙෴☉⁀
no subject
No. ]
have u srsly not ben payin attentin?
i mean i kno im cute an distracting [ This is an indisputable fact. ]
but u still gotta B aware of ur surroudings
at lest a lil bit
u at lest kno what hanahaki is rite?
no subject
Attention to what?
Yea, that's facts. I should stop scrolling your gram and get some work done huh?
[ You dangle the bait and he will bite, ma'am! ]
Wait but, hanakai disease isn't real Even if it was, doesn't it just affect ppl experiencing unrequited love?
LE GASP! ✿♥‿♥✿
Nao-chan! Is this your way of saying you luuuv me? And to think, we've not even been on 1 date yet!
What would my father say?!
1/?
And him nonethewiser that it hit Different. ]
2/?
He's not being serious, of course. Just trolling and that's okay. She misses trolls. Gods, she misses them and the forums! Oh, the forums. ]
3/?
Eh? [ There's this hair-standing-on-end feeling and -- ]
4/?
What the hell is going on?? The only part she should've known was where he was going with that. It was obvious. She might've even done the same, but the heat in her cheeks, brows raised, chest clenching part that makes her want to suddenly stand up and -- and what? What? No, that's a surprise, a surprise that sees her typing in caps before she wholly realizes that's what she's doing. ]
WHO SAID NETHING ABOUT TAT????
IDIOT! B SERIOUS!!
I ONLY ASKED BC
[ Oh. She needs to backtrack, backspace quickly. She absolutely cannot send a message so clearly affected that -- oh. She sent it. ]
5/?
6/?
No, no, no, no, no. No. Nonono. ]
7/?
8/8
Don't give whatever that was another thought. ]
look this is srs
its real but its not regulr ol hanaki
and u can DIE from it so pay attention!!
instead of teh usual its cause u have sum secret ur keepin
speakin ur truth 2 sumbody is teh cure
so watr u hidin hoshina??
its clearly not ur terrible sense of humor
no subject
[ Appears a few times on her screen after that capslock disaster. He's amused, really but he's also taking it seriously. Shitting himself that this is actually something real and deadly, not just some side effect of the potion he drank when he arrived. After all, he can turn into a Kitsune now, sprouting a few flowers doesn't seem as strange as it should have, all things considered. ]
Shesh, you almost broke your tailored tsun tsun image, giving me the caps treatment like that.
No need to shout senpai! (⌐▀͡ ̯ʖ▀)
[ This really is serious huh? Man, and Hoshina doesn't even think his 'secret' is that relevant here. ]
Oh no.
Do they know my secret?
That I'm really a girl in a wig?
That I'm 12 cats in a trench coat?
That I have 2 left hands?
That I invented the work fleek?
That I've never been kissed?
That my favourite movie is Twilight?
That--
Sorry, coughing fit.
[ Hoshina stops typing for a moment to cough up a bunch of petals. ]
no subject
i am not a tsundere
[ He just exasperates her a tiny bit and makes her want to shake the hell out of him a whole lot, that's all. Now that that's been established, she -- twelve cats in a trench coat? Oh, it's stupid to even consider that seriously! But she does love cats.
She shakes it off easily enough and continues reading, pausing at a certain question if only for a very, very brief moment. His last message is concerning. ]
where r u
no subject
Where am I?
Why?
U gonna come bring me some broth? Pruning scissors might be better.
I'm in bed you perv!
[ He snaps a pic and sends it to her. Just him laying in bed, covering his mouth, beady little eyes closed yet you can still see he's smiling... petals over the skin-tight black t-shirt he's wearing. ]
Dunno the name of the place. Some Dragonkin took me upstairs to bed when I passed out in the bar.
Why where r u?
no subject
Get it together, Mizushita!!
Of course, getting it together means assessing the situation properly and formulating a few plans of action before she takes action. Hoshina is a troll, a sly fox with a quick mind, and he's the most promising playmate she's had. While she's thought it in moments of exasperation, leaving him to die from the disease because death isn't permanent here has never been a real consideration, but the man is -- and she glances very briefly at her phone, pecking the keys to scroll down to the rest of the message so that the pic is at least a little out of the frame -- dangerous.
She likes it, that he's dangerous. It's good fun to tease the sheep, but sometimes, she craves a challenge. He isn't half-bad for that, not that she'll tell him, and there's... something else, something she shoves so violently to the back of her mind it almost sends her reeling.
Still, to be in close quarters with him like that in private, even with both of them sick... well, she doesn't exactly have a choice, does she? She could ask one of her friends to go in her place, but they wouldn't know what to ask, how to get to the heart of the matter. They'd be easily overwhelmed and there's a very good chance he wouldn't take them seriously and she'd wind up having to go, anyway.
Plenty of time to think on the way, she supposes. She caps a cough with a hand and swallows stubbornly.
Right. She needs coffee and she needs to move. She needs to get there and back before this worsens. He already passed out at least once that she knows of and he's... well, he's, uh, obviously in better shape than she is, so she should hurry. ]
dont worry about it
u need 2 focus on figuring out ur secret
cause ur gonna tell it me
[ That and more. She's been wanting to learn more about him and she isn't about to pass up the opportunity. Two birds, one stone and all that.
She'll just have to be mindful of her health and the time. ]
no subject
can u just not?
I'm fiiiiine really.
dont worry.
[ He's actually a little terrified. He'd usually call up Okonogi by now, in a panic and have her talk some sense into him- but he doesn't have anyone... No friends as of yet, just a few people whos names he would recognize from talking to them on the Oracle. Nao is the closest thing to anything he has...
... And he wants to keep her close, become better friends and so on, so for her to come and see him when he's weak like this? It doesn't bode well. ]
Here.
I'll be decent when u get here.
[ He drops the name of the Inn he's staying in, the Dragonkin looking after him, having convinced him it's best to be with someone when you're like this. ]
1/2
Why the change of heart? She wonders, but thinks it's better not to question him now or perhaps at all about it. For some reason, she thinks he can trust his word this time. ]
thank u
ill see u soon
[ No emoji this time. She's that serious about getting to him and she's on the move, stifling the occasional little cough along the way. ]
2/2
Under normal circumstances, she might've simply tested the door and walked in had it been unlocked and seemed safe enough. This time, she presses her door to the ear for a moment, listening, then draws herself back and knocks. ]
Hoshina-kun, you better be decent! You promised! [ She calls. ]
no subject
[ He called out from inside the room, his voice sounding a little muffled on account of the mouthful of petals he just coughed up before she arrived.
When she does open the door, the first thing she will see is the bed he's taken over while he's sick. A body-shaped lump in it ( ps. it's just pillows and his jacket, but shhhh~ ) and a cat sitting on the pillow in a ring of flower petals and leaves. The cat, a black tabby with midnight blue eyes, currently licking its paw. The real Hoshina is propped up behind the door, having gotten up for a drink of water.
Is she really going to fall for this? If so, she should be expecting another 11 cats in here somewhere, right? ]
cw: blood, disease, etc. up and down, sorry y'all
That just leaves the present in which he's obviously feeling well enough to try to prank her like this. Oh, she's gonna get him. ]
Hoshina-kun!
[ She gasps and steps in hurriedly, leaving the door open as she approaches the cat on the bed. The gasp is very real as Nao has honed in on the cat's charm points. She doesn't know where he got the kitty from, but she's already determined he or she is coming back to the cottage with her when she leaves. ]
I didn't think you were serious about the twelve cats thing!
[ She kneels by the bed and leans forward so she can better observe the kitty as she continues her act except it isn't totally an act. She is, in fact, fawning over the cat.
So cute! ]
Shouldn't there be eleven more of you? I wonder where they could be.
[ She's going to pet the kitty because she deserves to pet the kitty. She's only become more deserving since she got there, but as she does, she's honing in on certain sights, scents. Should've put her air-filtering mask back on before she stepped in, but she's not sure how helpful it will be even when she does. She has to be quick to remove it when she coughs, after all. ]
You're not planning on playing a trick on me, are you? That'd be so mean!
no subject
Wobbling as he stepped forward, stumbling and catching himself by holding the post on the foot of the bed, doubling over, covering his mouth and spluttering out a handful of petals and a small splattering of blood as his laughter was clearly too much for his feeble lungs to handle right now. ]
Man, I was hoping you weren't that gullible, but no~
[ Tipping his head aside. He looked kinda shit, hair stuck to his face with sweat beads trickling down from his temples and a damp ring around the neck of his t-shirt. Eyes closed as they usually were, but there was a ring of black around them, bags that weren't there before. ]
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