At least Tuesday isn't Monday (Akira)

[Marnie Sullivan]

Although Marnie still found her self wishing occasionally that she could still live with her parents, she had to admit, the cooking at Hammel was better than at home. She took a bite out of her fried egg on toast, careful to let the yolk drip on her plate instead of her lap, and unfolded her campus map. Attending Hammel for three years, even if she hadn't lived there at the time, meant Marnie knew her way around fairly well. Even so, there were a couple of classes in areas she'd never thought to visit, and she wanted to be prepared.

Her stay so far had been fairly uneventful, all things considered. Move-in day had been a fiasco, but of the mundane sort rather than meta. There hadn't been any club meetings yet, or even any real homework. Marnie supposed that now was the time to be meeting other students and making friends, but she often felt intimidated - many of these people had clearly been Hammel residents for some time, and most of them already seemed to know one another. Marnie hadn't had such comfortable acquaintances with anyone her age since her time in public school, and it frustrated her. She didn't want to go through the rest of her schooling without at least someone to talk to, but where was she supposed to start? 

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira stood in the cafeteria with his plate in his hands. He looked around the cafeteria for a place to sit. He had first came to Hammel when he was 14 years old. He had been attending Hammel for 3 years. Akira was friendly and could sit down at any table without facing a problem. Akira started for a table with a few people, but then he stopped. He spotted a table with only one person.

Akira changed directions and headed for the table the loner. Yes, there are some people who would sit alone in the cafeteria because they are studying or something. He approached the table. If this girl wants to be alone then Akira would leave. Akira pulled out the chair across from her.

“Hello,” Akira smiled brightly at her, “is anyone sitting here?” Akira has been living in America for 4 years and he still has a faint Japanese accent.

[Marnie Sullivan]

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

"No, that seat's free," Marnie answered. At first she didn't recognize the boy at all, but at second glance he looked a little familiar. Not in a celebrity kind of way - now that she thought about it, Marnie was pretty sure she'd seen him on campus before.

Marnie folded up her map so it was taking up less table space. She wondered if the boy wanted to sit here to be friendly or because everywhere else was taken, and she briefly considered just eating her breakfast silently and making a break for it as soon as possible. But maybe he was just trying to be friendly, and hadn't she just been hoping to meet someone new? No time like the present, she supposed.

"I'm Marnie," she told him and waited, hoping he'd introduce himself.

[Akira Koizumi]

“Arigato gozaimasu,” Akira sat down. He started to eat his breakfast. The girl folded up her map to make room. She has a map. She must be a new student. Akira thought to himself. The more Akira looks at her, he is pretty sure that he had seen her in the hallways before.

“I’m Marnie.”

Akira looked up to Marnie. He smiled, “Hello, Marnie-san. I’m Akira. Nice to meet you.” He took another bite of his breakfast. “Are you new here?”

[Marnie Sullivan]

Oh good, so he was friendly after all.

"Sort of," Marnie answered. "I started classes here a few years ago, but I just moved in last weekend. Still a few things to get used to, you know?" His accent was rather interesting, she thought. Marnie was pretty sure she recognized his name and greeting as Japanese, but didn't know enough about the language to be sure.

"What about you? How long have you been here?" she asked.

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira finished chewing before he answered Marnie. “I’ve been here about three years now. It’s pretty cool here, nee? So many different abilities.” Akira took another bite. He looked around the cafeteria at all the other students. He looked back to Marnie.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your ability, Marnie-san?”

[Marnie Sullivan]

Marnie hurriedly swallowed the bite of egg she'd taken to respond.

"Oh, I don't mind! I have camouflage," she told Akira. "I can't go invisible or anything like that, but I can change my skin to look like walls and floors and all that." Not a terribly exciting power compared to the shapeshifters and teleporters she was sure also populated Hammel, but she was used to that.

"So what's yours, Akira?"

[Akira Koizumi]

“Waa~ that’s so cool. So you’re kind of like a car-cha-” Akira stopped for a moment trying to come up with the word he wanted. When Akira couldn’t come up with the word ‘chameleon,’ he thought of another way to say what he wanted to say. Hopefully Marnie would get what the Japanese boy was trying to say. “Like a colorful lizard, the ones that changes colors. Sorry, I’m still working on my English.” Akira chuckled. He ran a hand through his hair in slight embarrassment.

“I have ink manipulation. I can control ink. It’s really fun when I am stuck in class.” Akira pouted at the thought about being in class. Maybe he would skip a class or two today. “My ani-chan has the same ability. He was the one who gave me this,” Akira held up his left wrist to show Marnie the kanji.

[Marnie Sullivan]

"Do you mean a chameleon? I have one of those, actually!" Marnie wasn't really phased by Akira's stumbling over words. He was speaking more English than she knew of any other language.

"Oh, neat, what does it say?" she asked, peering at the tattoo with interest. She wasn't quite sure what an ani-chan was - maybe an artist, since the tattoo looked well-done - but she decided to look it up later to be sure.

"Is it real, like did he do it with needles, or could he just sort of put the ink in your skin?"

[Akira Koizumi]

“Hai, chameleon. That’s it.” Akira chuckled again. “It’s the kanji for the ‘drawing.’ No needles. Ani-chan took the ink from a fountain pen and drew it. I don’t play with the tattoo because it is special to me.” Akira looked at his wrist, admiring the beauty. He was thinking about his brother when an idea popped into his head. “Here let me show you.”

Akira looked through his bag, looking for a pen. He placed the pen on the table. “Watch,” Akira hovered his hand over the pen. The pen started to roll back and forth on the table. Akira looked up to Marnie’s expression.

Akira then picked up the pen and took it apart. He hovered his hand over the open pen. He raised his hand up and the ink came out of the pen. Akira smiled from ear to ear. He let the ink fall onto the table. Akira moved his hand around. He was drawing. He took away his hand when he was done to show Marnie the pig he drew. “What a tattoo? Don’t worry, I can remove it if you don’t want it.”

[Marnie Sullivan]

Marnie grinned as she watched the ink move through the air and across the table; when Akira revealed the pig he had created, she had to admit it was quite a show. The image itself was quite well done - did being an ink manipulator allow the boy to draw so well, or were they mostly separate talents? Either way, Marnie was impressed.

She considered Akira's tattoo offer for a moment - she had no idea what kind of design she would want if it were permanent, but he did say he could remove it afterward.

"Okay," Marnie replied. She pushed back her sleeve to expose the inside of her right forearm. "I don't know what kind to ask for, so surprise me?"

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira thought for a moment. What would look good on the forearm? The light bulb above Akira’s head lit up. He had it. Akira pulled the ink off of the table and placed it on Marnie’s forearm. He moved his hand around like he did just moments before. A serious expression formed on Akira’s face as he focused on the drawing.

This was the first time Akira was drawing on someone’s skin. He had played with ink lots of times before. He had given himself other tattoos when he had nothing better to do. He didn’t want to mess up.

When Akira was happy with his work, he let Marnie see the flower. “What do you think?”

[Marnie Sullivan]

How weird! Marnie thought as she watched the ink move around her skin. It didn't hurt, or course, but she barely even felt it. When Akira settled it into the flower design, she smiled wide.

"It's pretty!" Marnie replied, pleased with the results. Although she had been planning on just having it removed after a minute, she considered leaving it on for the rest of the day. Then a thought occurred to her and she looked up at Akira.

"I wanna try something," she told him, "and you showed me your power so it's only fair you get to see mine." Focusing on her forearm - she didn't want to completely change color in the middle of the cafeteria, after all - Marnie held her breath in concentration. After a moment the peachy tone of her arm blended to the lighter grey of the table-top. It wasn't a very impressive difference, but she wanted to see if the tattoo would fade with the rest of her skin. It didn't; the ink was even clearer now that it contrasted more with the color of her arm.

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira’s heart filled when Marnie told him that she liked the tattoo. It made him fill with pride. If it was possible Akira’s smile got even bigger.

Akira watched carefully. His eyes got wide and his mouth opened to make an ‘o’ shape as Marnie’s arm changed into the grey table color. The tattoo looked like it was on the table rather Marnie’s arm. “Waa~ cool!” Akira inspected the table and Marnie’s arm. He couldn’t distinguish her arm from the table. If it weren’t for the tattoo, Akira wouldn’t have known where her arm was.

“Can I touch your arm?” He knew her arm was still there; it was just that he couldn’t see it.

[Marnie Sullivan]

"I guess so." Marnie poked her arm a couple of times - same as always, it just felt like an arm. Maybe one day she'd be able to mimic the textures of the surfaces she blended with, but she doubted it. Even so, she was pleased that Akira found her ability impressive.

"I bet we can still see the tattoo because the ink is just kind of on top of my arm, right? I wonder if a real tattoo would do that," she said.