give your friends a surprise

[closewithnewintown]

Who: EVERYONE
What: FAMILY MEETING
When: 8/4, right after school closes.
Where: Student council room
Warnings: Eventually, probably.

["If my friends back home were acting like this, I would've already locked them in a room and forced them to figure out their feelings."

the job puts all of her considerable superspy skills to the test. she knows where every normal kid's locker is; it's easy enough to slip the note into each that morning. if it's someone who she knows would be unable to read the note, she tells them its contents, but keeps her own involvement out of it. lies of omission don't count.

the note reads:]

I have very important information about this place. Please come to the student council room after school ends today.

- Nao Sato

[and if the text looks just a bit girlier than you'd think she'd write, hey, you don't know her. she's got layers.

either way, it's a pretty interesting proposition: the student council room door is, for the first time in seemingly ever, wide open. anyone can walk inside - and, hopefully, most everyone should. because it's only when Stephanie thinks that she's got enough of them inside that she actually enters the room, shutting the door behind her.

click.

it locks. she grins, spins the key on her finger, and slips it into her pocket.

"How are you supposed to do that with grownups?"

the exact same way, she's decided.]

We haven't had any meetings since, um. Well. The last one. But, I'm pretty sure nobody has no more murders to report, so it shouldn't be too bad, and we can all just focus on the most important task: Getting along! All of us are on the same team, but most of us barely even know each other; some of us even hate some of the others! [SHE SAYS, LIKE SHE DOESN'T ACTIVELY DESPISE KOKICHI] So, I figured we could spend the evening fixing that problem. Play some games, talk about stuff we've discovered since the last time...

And, maybe, if everybody does a really good job, I'll unlock the door!

[smiles]

Comments

[contrarily]

I just hate feeling like I'm a trapped animal, you know...

( she sighs, glancing over to the stab, then back to amami. ah, yeah... he knows how she works — which is to say, not healthily — and she motions him closer, still, extending the hand with the box cutter to point at him. )

Just your finger is fine. ( and she holds it up there, expecting him to stab himself for her because, well.

wouldn't he? )

[sisters]

Then you should see why something like this is more helpful than not.

( the school gives him way more of a "trapped animal" feeling than the stuco room, but okay. he doesn't really see the point of locking the door either... it's not like they have a high rate of people walking out on meetings here, and among those who have, he's pretty sure stephanie has been one of them. sighing though, he'll pull up a seat next to rika, make a kind of face, offer up his hand. )

On one condition.

[contrarily]

( she smiles, when he sits down, and leans her head on his shoulder, still holding up the knife. )

Hmm? What is it?

[mermaidcursed]

( hey, so, she's sure this is very important or something but like. rika-chan what the fuck. and like. she's found some pretty handy stuff? so! guess who's storming over equal parts concerned, mortified and a little peeved. like. for fuck's sake y'all- )

Rika-chan, let me see your leg.

[contrarily]

My leg? Why? ( and then — ) ... oh.

( right, she did that. in her defense, she was Provoked? can't pass up a challenge, even when it comes from a 11 year old with pink hair... anyway, she scoots over to the edge of the seat and points at the stab wound in her thigh.

there... it is... )

[mermaidcursed]

( at least amami was able to put some pressure on it... nene quietly sits down and frowns. rika will need more than this immediate bit of help. but... )

You're gonna wanna stop by the nurse's office, but I can patch it up some for right now. I'm gonna disinfect the surface level of it though, okay? It's gonna sting though.

( and with a fresh paper towel, because you make do with what you can find, nene's gonna start just that. )

[contrarily]

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH.

( but fine, it's not like she's not used to disinfecting open wounds, and it's not like this is too bad, so... she won't complain much beyond occasional whines and groans, because she's 5.

so she takes her hands away from the wound and lets nene do her thing, pouting. )

Just be gentle!

[mermaidcursed]

I will, I promise.

( and she is, as she works- slow and soft and gentle, especially once the bandages come back out, with great care because even if she's expected this sort of thing on some level by now, even if she's been learning and trying to learn since month one, it's still jarring... especially with rika being someone she considers a friend.

but she can do this. she has to.

what else is she good for, otherwise? )

[sisters]

( no stab? okay, then he'll take his hand back so he can dig in his pocket for a moment — pulling out the cloth-wrapped mirror shard again so that he can go through the same familiar motions. well, it's a bit harder to wrap her thigh when she's sitting and all that, but he can at least fold up the fabric and press it against the wound to slow the bleeding. no passing out for you, young lady. he'll keep talking as he does so. )

You'll have to do it every time. If you're going to hurt yourself, you do the same thing to me.

( because, he's hoping, maybe it'd make her think twice about doing this kind of thing in the future. )

[contrarily]

( he was supposed to stab himself on the box cutter, ok!! she can't do it... she can't just stab him in earnest... she'd feel terrible? anyway, she looks at the wound he's pressing his hand against and narrows her eyes, dropping the hand with the blade down immediately. )

That's just not fair, Ran-tan.

[sisters]

You say that, but who's the one trying to use this to get what they want right now?

( pretty sure she's the one being unfair. )

[contrarily]

...

( how tf ELSE is she supposed to get what she wants? asking politely? nice joke. )

It didn't work, anyway. ( huff )

[sisters]

( ??? patience? it's a 10-year old, you think she wants to stay in here forever with these freaks any more than you? )

Now you know for next time — and when she does let us out, ( because she will, ) we'll stop by the nurse's office.

[contrarily]

( idk stephanie's hardcore. more than rika, somehow. )

Uuuuuuughhhhh!!! ( WHIIIIINES. shoves her face into his shoulder. whines even more — )

[sisters]

( being a normal human being is a learned skill. she's still learning. actually, so are half the people in this room.

but amami will pet her head gently, as if to comfort her. )

[contrarily]

( sigh. )

Sorry, Ran-tan... It's Koma-kyun's fault! He always makes me do something insane!!

[sisters]

( amami can join her on that sigh, but he tries to sound patient nonetheless, letting his hand come to rest around the small of her back. )

Don't you think you should know better than to listen to Komaeda-kun?

( not that he doesn't also want to not blame rika but, like, man just got outed as a murderer last meeting. it's in her best interest not to go along with him when he says they should take the violent way out. )

[contrarily]

I know, but I just heard him whisper something about humpty dumpty in the distance, and now I wanna jump out of the window! ... that kind of a thing.

( he's a disease?? )

:)

[sisters]

( blinking, because no clue what that means, but like, nodding along anyway. )

The window, huh... Well, I don't think you're gonna be climbing anywhere now that you're bleeding like that.

( you know that expression about shooting yourself in the foot? stabbing herself in the leg is probably close enough, unless it's void school she wants to escape to, but it'll still send her back here to the meeting. )