Fantastic [Mei]

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

It wasn't like Gryphon came back to Hammel on a regular basis or anything, but he was here. It was nice, really, to walk around and be able to see everything again; to walk through the dorms, look into classrooms, say hi to some of his past teachers. It had been a while after all, and he had been generally avoiding the Institute for... reasons. Luckily, he had run into those reasons yet, and continued to hope not to. The last thing he needed to do was start to worry more when he had just began to relax more again. Anyway, he hadn't just come here to sight-see and waddle in nostalgia - one of his dance kids had forgotten something, and he didn't know where the girl lived, but he knew her brother, who just so happened to go to Hammel, and had just handed over the shoes. How the kid had managed to forget his shoes was fascinating.

Anyway, now he was chilling out, sat on a bench near the pond. It was getting cold, but he could manage the somewhat frosty air, thanks to living in Seattle before coming here. He would probably walk into Pilot Ridge in a while, or something. He didn't have much planned for the day, but he knew he probably wouldn't be allowed to stay for too long, considering that he didn't work here, but he could use the excuse that he was waiting for Rue (even though he had no idea if he was helping out today), but he would just try not to push his luck. He wasn't doing anything bad, anyway.

So he sat, looking at YouTube. His (and Kodi's) channel still had a fair amount of subscribers, and he was proud of that. He had uploaded a video a week or so ago, explaining why they had both suddenly disappeared, and that he didn't plan to remove any of the videos or anything, unless Kodi protested, which he didn't imagine he would, but he could have been wrong. And he said he would stay active personally, but the videos would probably stay away from his own personal life. He also invited Kodi to upload his own videos if he wanted (he did have the password after all), but he wasn't sure his ex-boyfriend would even be looking at their channel. Right now, he was just scrolling through the comments, replying to the majority. Quite a few people were concerned for him, or for Kodi, or for them both. There were also a few people asking them to get back together because 'it's not fair for the fans!', which had lead to him leaving a general comment saying that his personal life shouldn't be their fan's main form of entertainment.

But there was a lot of encouragement too, so he hadn't lost his faith in humanity, yet. He continued to read.

[Deleted]

Mei tromped across the courtyard, the sound of dead grass crunching beneath her thick-soled boots. Though she wore a pleated black skirt, heavy black tights kept her legs from the chill of the fall air, while a woolen grey jacket covered her torso, secured by a thick grey belt around her thin waist. Her hair was straightened today, and recently trimmed too, so that the ends were clipped to a abrupt, yet even end, flowing down to her mid back(or mid chest, if we were measuring from the front). Black outlined her eyes as normal, and a light foundation gave her a porcelain-like complexion. Her sister, Fleur, would no doubt say it was unattractive to look that pallor…but then she used the same shade for her own foundation, so what did she know? It was just the contrast of the black against the paleness of her face that she was no doubt commenting against.

Was she really supposed to be a fashion consultant?

It wasn’t like Mei didn’t know these things, Fleur talked about them often enough that it was almost nothing for Mei to pick up on. To achieve the look that Mei strived for, she needed to know just as much about make-up and cosmetics and color and lighting. Otherwise it really would just look…bad. And Mei dared to admit that she was nearly(only nearly) as vain as her sister. Just because they had different styles didn’t make them any less ‘wrong’.

Anyway, it wasn’t any matter, these were just idle thoughts that were on her mind as she made her way to a more isolated part of the campus. As it was getting colder, more students opted to keep inside over spending their time outdoors(and no doubt they didn’t have the money to afford an abundance of warm, yet non-restictive, clothing to keep out the chill). Therefore, it was much easier for Mei to find solitude, away from the rampant thoughts of others, in a place outdoors, far from the buildings which housed her peers.

When she arrived at the pond, Mei stopped to look down at her phone a moment, having gotten a message from one of her online friends. She took the next minute or so to type out a reply, leaving her standing in the middle of the path with her head bent down towards her phone. Luckily, she wasn’t in anybody’s way, though she would have heard them coming if she was. When she looked up again and resumed her walk, Mei did notice a familiar figure sitting on one of the benches beside the pond. Now, this figure wasn’t familiar because it was anybody she’d met before, nor had she ever seen him in person. In fact, she was almost certain this person didn’t even know she existed outside of her youtube name, “KaguyaMoonChild”. But that slim person, those long legs, those eagle wings…that was unmistakably Gryphon Matsuoka, a local youtube vlogger whom she followed religiously.

It should be noted noted that he was also her sister Fleur’s fiancé, though that was a disaster waiting to happen, in her opinion. Mei had no intention of telling her sister either that Gryphon and his boyfriend had recently broken up. No need to give her an unnecessary advantage.

From watching their videos, Mei felt like she was already close to the two boys, despite having never met them, and approached the winged man with a confidence she normally lacked against strangers. “…Gryphon?” she called out in a voice as thin and smooth as silk. Mei offered a soft smile as she waited for a response.

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

If Gryphon had had any interest in learning about Fleur, he probably would have know about her family, and may have even met Mei before now. However, none of this was the case, since the winged man was making a statement of avoiding that parasite. She could have been a lovely person, for all he knew, but his first impression of her wasn't all that great, and since he had just been suffering enough with problems involving relationships, he didn't want to reintroduce another quite yet. Or ever. Sorry Fleur. She could be the, richest, most famous woman in the world and he would still avoid her, because Gryphon didn't care about business. He cared about people - and when a relationship began similarly to a business transaction, he wanted absolutely no part of it. Any messages, phone calls, casual random visits were and would be ignored until there came a point where he saw it fit to actually listen.

Besides, he wasn't thinking about her right now. He was thinking about YouTube. Gryphon used to make a point of reading foul comments so he could discredit them, but now they were all mean sentiments that made his heart ache even more. They were rather few and far apart, thankfully, but that didn't lessen the sting of reading that someone thought that the end of your relationship was a good thing, in nice terms (meaning without the slurs and incorrect grammar/spelling). He just tried to read the positive now. The ones that hoped for the best for both of them. There were a few names he recognised by this point, and made a habit of replying too, as they usually commented on their every video. They were the warmest. As much as he disliked the internet for its cruelty, he had to be glad of its ability to bring good people together.

He was still reading when he heard his name, in an unfamiliar voice. He blinked, looking at his phone again before looking up and in the direction of the girl. He smiled back, in a friendly manner, if a little uncertainly, "...me?" Not many people were named Gryphon, but... you never know... "Um... hi." He said, a hint of a confused laugh tinging his voice. "I'm really sorry, but should I know you?" He considered the possibility that this was a fan, and then left it at that, without asking. He didn't want to sound full of himself, and it would probably sound awful if he was wrong.

Despite all this, he moved up on the bench, so the girl could sit if she wanted, putting his phone away for now, "What's... what's your name, random citizen?" He said, attempting to stay light-hearted. He saw no danger in being friendly - and he would hate to be rude to this person, whether he was having a memory blip or not. He only vaguely recognised her face, but he assumed that was considering the fact she went to Hammel. He continued to keep a light expression, but there could be some heaviness detected in his posture, and his eyes. His mind had only stopped racing recently, but he was sure it would get back up to speed at some point. He wished to delay that point for as long as possible.

[Deleted]

Mei didn’t expect Gryphon to recognize her. That would be absurd, unless Fleur went out of her way to mention her in her few, brief interactions with him, which was highly unlikely. So when Gryphon turned around with an obvious look of confusion on his face, she simply offered a thin, yet friendly, smile. “Yes, you,” she said with a small touch of amusement in her tiny voice. Mei casually stepped closer, her hands held behind her back. She shook her head at his question. “No, I wouldn’t expect you to.” Mei realized that her knowing him, but him not knowing her was a little creepy…but that just made it slightly more amusing. She’d keep up the air of mystery until he invited her to sit beside him on the bench. Mei took it.

“I’m Mei,” she told him, looking slight to the side towards him. “You might know me better by my online handle, KaguyaMoonChild.” It was a silly name, in her opinion, but she made it when she was 13 and in love with Sailor Moon, so it ended up just sticking since then. Her smile widened slightly and her eyes narrowed as she debated with herself on whether to tell him her full name. Seeing his potential reaction won out over remaining anonymous. “…..it might also benefit you to know that my family name is Seomoon,” she said slyly. “I believe you know my sister.”