rekindleme | [OPEN] Deer in the Headlights

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[OPEN] Deer in the Headlights

Who: Kanji and anybody he runs into!
Where: District 5, with a break in District 1 to... talk.
When: July 22nd
Summary: Kanji's job at the District 5 theater has him busy with an upcoming production, meeting new faces along the way! But with something else stewing at his mind, he turns to friends for advice in downtime.
Warnings: Sex talks.

The hustle and bustle of folks was in fuller swing than usual for a weekday; seems some people felt they hadn't quite had their fill after the Festival ended. The rollercoaster, ferris wheel and merry go round always had butts in the seats, popcorn was eaten by the ton and groups crowded around the cotton candy machine. The attendant wowed the crowd with an impressive display, moving this way and that as he weaved the melted sugar in various arcs and showy display before handing it to an awaiting hungry spectator.

Kanji couldn't let himself be distracted, however, even if the cotton candy smelled awesome and popcorn was freakin' tasty. He was on the clock and was armed with a stack of fliers. He was also dressed like a bard, the hood of his cloak drawn over his head, treading on leather boots. It felt kinda cool to be in costume all told- it was like halloween almost every day at his job as the costume tailor for the actors and other performers.

"Flier? New shows all next week! Flier? Different show every night! Flier? Tell your friends, take 'em to a show!" It was annoying to disturb people walking down the street, but one less flier in his hands meant he was one step closer to taking his break and getting a little extra free time to himself.

"Sing us a song, dear bard!" Someone crowed. Kanji frowned, turning his head. His boss had told him he may need to sing to advertise and be 'in-character', but he never thought someone would actually ask him to do so.

Damn it. BAIL.

He pretended not to hear them, and hurried away to the next group. But he may be unable to dodge requests forever...

[ooc: Got two threads for Shura and Yu for planned things, but as it says on the label, this is open. COME AT ME and tag y'self in, lovelies.]

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Pilouette is chomping down on some cotton candy when his cries catch her attention. He seems to be doing better with the whole costumed advertising thing than she did at her job. Not only does he seem to more at ease about it, but his costume is way cooler, too. She can't help but be a tiny bit jealous.

Still, she at least she didn't get heckled with song requests like this poor guy is. Plus, either way, having to approach people on the street like that isn't exactly the most fun thing ever. She feels for him, and can't help but want to say something encouraging whether he needs it or not. Besides, she's been meaning to get better at just talking to people anyway. After a moment of intense internal debate as to whether what she's doing is weird or not, she approaches him, her expression an odd mixture of seriousness and nervousness.

"Um, j-just so you know, you're doing like, a totally awesome job! Okay!?"

Well, he was most of the way through his fliers, which meant he was probably near the end of his shift. That was good, because today in particular he needed to get something out of his system. He didn't know why today would absolutely be the day, only that he felt that it had to be now, or he'd never gather the courage.

He wiped a sleeve against his forehead and tugged his hood lower, glad at least the fabric breathed a little. It was nerves that made him sweat for the most part.

Kanji was at full stop when someone approached, and he couldn't read her face for the life of him. It was kinda half n' half--

He blinked, eyebrows lifted. A compliment? He couldn't fight the small skip in his chest when he nodded firmly, immediately standing up straighter than he was just a moment before.

"Really? Uh... oh- thanks!"

Oh, shit, his job. He needed to do his job. Kanji held out one of the fliers.

"S'been 50/50 on whether people like plays or not."

"Plays, huh...?" she says, taking the flier from him. She reads over it with interest. "Ooh, I've only seen one or two of these...and even then it wasn't by like, professional actors...!"

After all, the school drama club wasn't bad, but she can't help but imagine that there are going to be differences in production values between a bunch of high school students and actors in a real theater.

"I wonder if I'll be able to get tickets next week, though...even if you said it's been 50/50 or whatever, I bet it'll be like, totally packed." She tilts her head, frowning thoughtfully. "I mean, you were like, totally grabbing tons of attention, you know?"

She was right- people were at least turning their heads when they walked past the area. But would it really mean the theater'd get packed? He hoped so. That'd make the company pretty happy to perform in front of a full house.

"If you're worried about that, tickets go up on sale tomorrow, bright n' early. They go by individual shows, or you could pick up a week-long pass at a reduced price. Most people just get a ticket a couple nights before, but... uh, the early bird gets the seat."

At the mention of a week-long pass, Pilouette lit up. "Then I'll totally have to try and get one of those week passes on my way to work tomorrow...Oooh, maybe I can get two and see if I can get someone to come with me!"

After all, going to see Shakespeare performed by real actors at a legitimate theater...that's totally a cool, sophisticated thing that adults do, right? Besides she liked the few plays she had seen before, so she figures these will probably be pretty good.

After a brief moment, Pilouette turned her attention to Kanji's costume. She looked at the cotton candy in her hand then back at his costume. The idea of accidentally getting her sugary snack all over it wasn't exactly great and, after deciding that hurriedly shoving the entire thing in her mouth to get rid of it wasn't the best option (as tempting as it was), she slowly stretched out her arm off to the side to put as much distance between the two as possible.

"So, like, if you don't mind me asking...are they using this costume in any of the plays? It's like, totally cool looking...!"

Edited (haha i know how tense works sometimes) 2014-07-29 09:49 (UTC)

Cool, another possible two seats filled! He figured this'd work, but he'd been getting a lot of interested looks in the last hour or so compared to before. Maybe calling out specifically why he was dressed like this helped, instead of just shoving fliers into people's hands like he'd done at the start.

The cotton candy looked tempting, and he'd been waiting for his break to go get that and a hot dog. The pink fluff was held further away just as he had that thought, and he inwardly appreciated the sticky stuff staying as far away from the fabric as possible. It was bad enough all over your hands...

"Huh? Oh, uh, thanks! Costumes like this're all over the plays. ...Uhm..."

He stood up taller, and jabbed a thumb against his chest. "I-I made 'em! S'all me. I worked real hard, so you better go see the shows n' see 'em all!"

Pilouette couldn't help but be a little surprised. He didn't look like the kind of guy who would be into making costumes. Still once she recovered from the brief shock, she couldn't help but be completely amazed.

"You made all of them?! Omigod, like, get out! That's like, so totally awesome...!" she cried, again looking from him to his costume and back. "I bet you're like, a total pro or something, right?!"

Even her friend in the drama club back home never achieved quite this level of craftsmanship. It almost made Pilouette wish she was right there next to her; she would have been all about this.

"A pro!?" His heart was beating so fast, he didn't know if it'd ever slow down. There was everything about just NOT getting a 'weird' or 'gross' about his work that never ceased to please him.

She was okay with his work. Thus, this chick was Forever Okay in Kanji's book.

Kanji broke into a sheepish smile and laughed, ruffling his own hair. "I-I ain't a pro, s'just somethin' I like doin'! My Ma runs a textile shop back home, so there wasn't a lack of material to work with most of the time. This is just some hobby, y'know? Clothes, dolls..."

"You can do dolls and regular clothes, too?! Even if it's a hobby it's still like, kind of cool..."

Pilouette always kind of admired people who had something they were good at, as she didn't have any special skills herself. Plus, sewing and tailoring was something useful! It was something people needed and appreciated, and that was awesome.

"I mean, not everyone can do that sort of thing. Like, I can't sew a stitch, you know? It's like, totally hard."

Kanji appeared surprised by the fact, shrugging with a frown. "Ain't hard. You just weren't taught. Not a lotta people can just watch somebody stitch a line and then pick it up like that."

He was a visual learner, but he knew some people learned through instructions in a book. He kinda wondered which she was.

"Hell, I bet I could get you on yer way in an hour, fixin' holes in clothes or whatever. Small stuff to start, y'know?"

Pilouette thought about that for a second. It would be useful to know...After all, she couldn't depend on other people to help her out every time she got snagged on something. Still, she only just met this guy (if this really even counts as "meeting") and couldn't help but feel a little hesitant to accept the offer.

Plus, she's never considered herself to be very smart. Even if he did teach her, she's not sure how long it would take her to learn...

"I, um, I couldn't ask you to do that, though! I mean, you probably have like, a zillion other things to do, right?" she replies, a bit sheepishly.

Kanji shrugged. "It ain't like my schedule's jam-packed or nothin'. The shows're launching soon and all the costumes're done. Unless one of 'em gets a tear, I ain't needed for much."

He was no actor. Just a costume guy. His stitch was strong and he didn't need to do much repair work so long as the actors were careful.

"But if ya don't wanna do it, that's fine too. I ain't gonna push."

It wasn't that she didn't want to, of course. Besides he was kind enough to offer and she figured that it really couldn't hurt for her to try and be more social. After all, she was pretty lacking in social contacts.

"Well, um, if you're really not busy, I guess a lesson might be nice," she said, tucking her flier into her purse and extending her free hand to offer a handshake. "Oh, but, um, I guess it might be easier to set something up if you knew my name, huh? I'm Pilouette. Um, nice to meet you."

Kanji nodded and accepted her hand. It would never not be strange for him to feel that weird warm charge moving up his arm and out into his body.

"Kanji Tatsumi. You gimme a call when ya want a quick crash course, or I could make it a regular thing with a whole bunch of people. Y'know, like a class or whatever."

He'd been meaning to do that back home anyway. Why not do it here?

Pilouette smiled, tilting her head thoughtfully.

"I bet a class would go over really well! I mean, sewing and stuff is totally useful to know. I bet lots of people would be like, super interested if you put it out there!"

Every once in a while she remembers that she hasn't been to school for a year, so even a regular class like that might be good. On top of that, maybe it would be fun. Learning things, meeting people...just the idea was kind of nice.

Kanji expressed his surprise with lifted eyebrows. "Yeah? Y'think so?"

Then again, wasn't everybody real chill about his hobbies here so far? He even went anonymous for a while but people figured him out regardless. He had yet to get poked at for what he did here, which was a thousand times better than how he was treated back home.

"Then I'll put somethin' together sometime. Why not, right?"

"Awesome!" she cheered. "I'll like, totally look forward to it!"

Besides being excited for the class, Pilouette couldn't help but feel like this had been a pretty good day. She stumbled upon the opportunity to learn something new, found out about a bunch of fun plays and even talked to someone she didn't know without being too awkward. She felt pretty pleased about it. However, after that brief moment of internal celebration, a light suddenly went on in her head.

"Oh! Oh, you're like, totally working right now, huh?! Oh, geez, I didn't hold you up or whatever, did I?!"

Kanji looked around him, then shrugged. "I toldja about the plays, right? I did my job, so it ain't like the bosses'll kick my ass for talking to people a little bit."

That, and his bosses seemed pretty damn chill. Guess you just needed to be easygoing as well as creative and a little crazy to make a living dressing up and pretending to be someone else for a while. Not that he'd spit in the eye of it, since he was having a blast.

"But I should get goin', get these fliers out before my break. I'll put up a video on the network or somethin' when I think of a schedule or... uh, what to say, really. But I'll keep people posted."

"I should be on my way, too, but I'll totally keep an eye out!" she said, grinning. "And it was nice meeting you, too! Maybe I'll see you around sometime!"

With a friendly wave she began walking off, feeling a bit peppier than she had earlier. Whether it was because of the energy from getting contact or the mood boost from the conversation, she wasn't sure. Before going too far, she turned and called back to him.

"And keep up the good work, okay!?"

Edited 2014-08-12 07:44 (UTC)

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[OPEN] Deer in the Headlights

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