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Who can you see? [w/Hideo]
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Post by Akimi Midoria on May 20, 2018 5:07:11 GMT
Akimi walked through the rather large mall. She remembered when she first came to the 104 as a little girl, now she's back again as an adult, not an inch taller. However whenever she walked through the various stores, she couldn't help but get glares from people in certain stores, even asked by staff if she was lost or if her parents were around. It didn't help that she still sounded like a child but some clerks didn't believe her various forms of identification, some believed her, but others assumed she had unbelievable make up. Unfortunately, her early years had a bad impact on her strength as she felt herself exhausted, again for the fifth time this day.
She noted a Cafe up ahead and shrugged, she thought there was no harm in visiting a Cafe. She knew she would probably regret it and for what could very well be the thirtieth time today she would have to show I.D to prove her age. Depending on the waiter/tress's reaction, it could very well affect their tip as if there was one thing shorter then Akimi at the moment, it was her fuse. As she walked towards the cafe, she encountered her ever so favorite issue, higher tabletops and chairs. At her own apartment she struggles with that, but in public it gets very awkward. As she walked in, she was greeted by an attendant. She figured they were roughly the same age, but the attendant still stood a full foot taller than her. Ignoring that insecurity she was led to a small two seating table.
The attendant was skeptical about her age, Akimi didn't bother to try and correct them as she simply ordered a cup of tea and a chocolate chip muffin. She couldn't think this day could get any worse.
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Hideo Kino
In-Training
Posts: 0
OOC Name: Lvl 20 Skeleton Warlock
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Post by Hideo Kino on May 21, 2018 2:16:09 GMT
Going to the mall was always a complicated experience for Hideo.
Every day he was brought there, he'd always find something new to be amazed by. There was such a wide variety of stores here that he'd get to visit that it was always like a new little venture. Game stores, book stores, candy stores, candle stores, clothes stores, shoe stores - anything he could think of, was probably somewhere in the mall. And him being brought here usually meant he was gonna got something good.
But the place also made him somewhat uneasy. There were always so many people here that it got pretty crowded at times. The noise made it hard for him to tell where people were, so he couldn't risk poking around without risking touching someone and causing an awkward situation. Paired with how infrequently he came here, it made it very hard to make a mental map of the area. So rather than let him look around on his own, he'd always have to be guided around by someone.
But hey, at least he got to spend some time with the younger of his two older sisters, Shiina.
It had been her idea to go to the mall today, and she insisted that he come along. Where were they going? She was actually very tight-lipped about which store they were going to, just giving him a cryptic "you'll like it".
And yet, she brought him to a Cafe first. He'd actually eaten here the last few times the two of them came to this place. But this time, he was told that she had to "get something ready for you", and just handed him some money and said to wait there until she was back. He couldn't tell how much she gave him, but he trusted that it'd be enough, though her dodginess was getting pretty suspicious.
But the first issue arose when he went to the front desk to ask for a spot: apparently, they were pretty busy, something he could get from all the chatter. They did have space, but apparently, he'd have to share a table with someone else. While he was fine with it, and confirmed as much, it made him wonder who he'd get seated with.
The attendant led him by hand - she seemed to be aware he couldn't see - over to where the table was. "Excuse me, miss?" the attendant began, with a gentle voice, "We don't have any empty tables at the moment, so would you mind if he shared a table with you?"
So, he'd be sharing a table with a girl. A teenager, no doubt - these cafes were supposed to be filled with teens, right? Well, he hoped she wouldn't mind him being there. With one hand still held by the attendant, he awkwardly tried to wave with his red-tipped cane still in his hand, hoping to make at least a decent first impression.
He hoped he wasn't making her feel forced into this...
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Post by Akimi Midoria on May 21, 2018 6:22:10 GMT
As the attendant brought over a young boy, Akimi nodded at the request to have him join her. However she noted the boys eyes and then began to see the cane. She realized that he probably didn't know there was a visual cue. She had nothing against the boy or blindness, but given that she still sounds like a 12 year old, and he can't see her identification, it gets annoying if they can't believe her. "Sure, I see no problem." Her voice responded, hoping he doesn't think she's younger tha n
Looking at the boy, Akimi had to guess he was about half her age. She wondered what an unsupervised child of his condition was doing all alone, but then again she wouldn't want anyone prying into why someone of her condition was all alone. Shrugging off, she avoided a hand shake for two reasons, one, she didn't want to look rude and hold something out in front of a blind person, and two, she was not sure she could honestly reach across the small table. Her feet couldn't even touch the floor so what did she know."Hello, I'm Akimi, Akimi Midoria."
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Hideo Kino
In-Training
Posts: 0
OOC Name: Lvl 20 Skeleton Warlock
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Post by Hideo Kino on May 21, 2018 18:18:30 GMT
Hideo smiled, stifling a giggle when he heard the girl's voice. He'd expected to be seated with a teenage girl, kinda like the one that escorted him to this table, not someone just a few years older than he was. It'd probably make things much less awkward too - he didn't want to make someone feel like they were babysitting him. And he'd feel a bit more comfortable talking to someone around his own age.
He moved to take his seat. A quick check revealed the chair was just as high as it was last time he was here, as was the table. A little inconvenient, but he'd dealt with it before. He folded up his cane, placing it at the back of his chair. Fortunately, the chairs had bars that he could step onto to help him reach his seat - a necessity because when he finally had his butt planted on the chair, he realized his feet weren't touching the ground.
He moved his cane onto his lap, intent on making sure it stayed there. If this thing fell off his chair, he was in trouble.
With that ordeal out of the way, the girl across from his introduced herself. Oh, right! He'd forgotten to introduce himself. "Akimi Midoria...that's a nice name! My name's Hideo Kino. It's nice to meet you!" He waved to her from across the table, forgoing a handshake. He doubted his hand would reach hers anyways - these tables were big.
Hideo heard his menu touch the table before the attendant told him it was there. The menu was mostly white, save for a label on the front that said "For those with visual difficulties.", and at first glance, the menu was otherwise featureless. However, in place of text, there were bumps, each in little sections of 2x3 boxes. While they would seem erratic to anyone looking at them, each pattern held a meaning: each one was a single hiragana sound, which Hideo could read just by feeling over them with a finger.
He read over the menu quickly, though was baffled by what he could possibly go with. There were a number of options he was tempted to go with, and a few of them he'd never tried before. Maybe the girl he was seated with could help him. "Any suggestions, Akimi?" he asked. "I don't really go here often, and a lot of the stuff here sounds good!"
He'd gone with her first name and avoided calling her "miss", assuming she really was close to the same age as him. Kids didn't call each other "miss" or "mister", after all.
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Post by Akimi Midoria on May 22, 2018 3:48:31 GMT
Akimi started to guess Hideo was believing her to be younger than she was, however she kept her temper tame since she hasn't corrected him, yet. She watched as he read the menu using tactile sense, amazed at the skill she waited patiently, she assumed that since he was relying on touch distraction while reading would be annoying. She pulled out her phone as she checked the time while waiting for him to order or hers to arrive. She placed the phone on the table and took a slight breath. However on the subject of opinions, she really didn't know what to say. "Sorry, I don't really know much either, I ordered a tea and muffin but this is my first time here. I never got out much when I was younger and in late years my parents were wary on it."
Akimi however started to realize that the young lad might've picked up on the context of what she was saying. She predicted the young lad would catch onto her words as she dreaded the explanation yet again, especially when she had nothing but her own word to go on. Her words carried hope that the young boy had an open mind so she wouldn't have to explain the science of her situation. "I look and sound younger, but I'm actually a fair bit older then what I sound."
Akimi noted the odd feeling that she thought she was sounding crazy to him but she shrugged it off, she was used to it. She had a list of accomplishments that no one could believe, why should this boy be any different?
"Forget it, my story is not interesting."
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Hideo Kino
In-Training
Posts: 0
OOC Name: Lvl 20 Skeleton Warlock
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Post by Hideo Kino on May 22, 2018 5:23:31 GMT
Oh, so it was her first time here. Well, that was fine. He even half-wished that he'd been the first one here, so he could help her decide on something.
When the attendant returned to take his order - without Akimi's order just yet, though she'd promise it'd come soon - Hideo placed an order of his own: a ham & cheese omelette sandwich with some hot cocoa. It had just sounded so good, and he had the complete freedom to choose what he wanted.
Now with his menu taken, it was just a matter of talking until their food got here. He'd hate to sit here in an awkward silence.
And it would seem his table-mate would be the first to start, catching Hideo by surprise. "Really? Then how old are you?" He'd had her pegged around eleven or twelve based on her voice, but if she was older than that, then he still couldn't have been that far off. Fourteen? He couldn't imagine she was in high school yet, unless she just got in.
And then he frowned when she said she didn't have an interesting story. With all the people he'd talked to, he learned that nobody had a life that was completely uninteresting. Especially if she really was older than she sounded.
"That's not true!" he protested. "Everyone's got an interesting story to tell. Why not share yours with me?" He actually was genuinely interested in learning why she sounded younger than she really was, and maybe her talking about it would make her more comfortable.
If anything, chances were her story would be much more interesting than his.
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Post by Akimi Midoria on May 22, 2018 22:56:18 GMT
If there was anything worth counting on when it comes to the mind of a child, it's unending curiosity and flexibility of the mind. The young boy was now as curious he possibly could be on the subject, Akimi figured that he was open to the idea that nothing is impossible. Shrugging, she led into the tale of her life, and condition. "Well, first things first, I'll rip off the band-aid. I think I'm about twice your age, I'm 18."
Akimi took a slight dramatic pause, more so to let the information sink into the young brain. She would've shown him ID, but frankly she doubted it was in braille, and that he could reach across the table to show him if he could see. Now that she started with the end, she would loop around back to the beginning. "As a child, I was very sick, I always had something. I spent most of my life in a hospital or clinic. I've had, done, and taken many things in the book, even unnamed things in trials. That resulted in a funny side affect, other than my neural pathways and mind, I haven't aged for six years."
Putting her entire life story in a blunt few sentences was surprisingly easy, but didn't make anything that happened in between the cracks any easier. While she was on the subject, she figured better to get a bit into the interesting science on it. She only knew what the doctors told her, but the young boy might like to hear some science, some boys his age like it. "You know how the body is made up of tiny beings called cells. They reproduce by splitting up into two cells after gaining nutrients. Each cell contains a copy of the body's DNA, and as cells split, the DNA gets broken and weaker, but with my cells, they stay virtually constant. My body is essentially static with exception to weight gain but even then, Doctors think I can't gain too much with my lifestyle."
Akimi's order soon arrived, her eyes opened wide as the rather large muffin was served on a plate. She thanked the attendant before focusing back on the boy on the other side of the table before she got to consuming her order. "So yeah, I'm a bit of an odd case. Still want to hear more? People genuinely don't believe me at this point without ID, or a note from my doctor."
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Hideo Kino
In-Training
Posts: 0
OOC Name: Lvl 20 Skeleton Warlock
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Post by Hideo Kino on May 23, 2018 2:05:37 GMT
He wanted to get her talking so she'd feel more comfortable with an unexpected guest, and sure enough, he managed to get her talking.
And wow, did she start off strong. "Eighteen? Really?" Here he was, thinking she hadn't even reached high school, and yet there she was, at that age when people were about to go to college. Though he didn't dare state his prediction: his sisters made it very clear to him that he shouldn't ask or say what he thinks a girl's age is.
After that, she talked about how she spent so much time sick and receiving hospital care. He hadn't been to a hospital in a long time - not since his parents first found out he was blind.
Unfortunately, once she started delving into the scientific details, she lost him. Although he kept nodding as if he understood her, he was desperately clinging onto bits and pieces. She was certainly using scientific terms appropriate for her age. It took him a moment before he could put enough together to form some kind of response. "So...wait. If you won't get any older, and your body's DNA isn't getting any shorter...does that mean you're immortal? Like, you won't be any different even when you're sixty or eighty or a hundred?"
The idea of that seemed really far-fetched, but then again, science was advancing pretty quickly. For all he knew immortality actually was a thing that people could get just from medical trials, though if it was the same kind of thing like what happened to Akimi, he'd maybe want to wait until he was older to get it.
He could smell the muffin placed in front of the girl, and the smell was strong enough that he didn't even notice the tea right beside it. If he had to guess, that muffin was chocolate chip...one of the options he was tempted into getting when first reading over the menu.
It just made him relish his own meal even further - and the attendant told him it'd be coming soon.
"I think the only lie you've told me was that your story wasn't interesting. You're definitely the first person I've met that's had stuff like that happen to them. Please, continue."
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Post by Akimi Midoria on May 24, 2018 6:00:42 GMT
Akimi was grateful for the flexibility of a child's mind, although she assumed that explaining the science was overwhelming the young lad. However, she found his intepretation of her situation from a physical perspective amusing. She slightly laughed at that but kept true to trying to maintain her status of elegance. "If only, I am not immortal but yes, virtually speaking I might age a bit by thirty, not sure. I can still die, There are side affects of my condition that also impact my life. I can still die of disease, malnutrition, and external factors. Like another thing is, I was never really active as a young kid, when I was your age, the best I got to physical activity was walking down the hallway. Limited physical activity and recovering from a lot took tolls."
However, Hideo's excitement towards the subject was an amazing sight as finally someone wasn't dropping their jaw out of shock, but cause they wanted to see more. She hoped that this could lead to someone finally being interested in her as a person, not as a medical subject or a loli icon. Figuring she already explained so much, a little deeper couldn't hurt. She took a brief sip of her tea before she picked back up on her tale. "During the whole time, I was either in a hospital or home, so I started writing. Started with small stuff and eventually led to short stories, and eventually my biggest project, a trilogy of novels. It took me 6 years to write all of it."
She took a bite of her muffin, again letting her young acquaintance take in the information, wondering what he was thinking so far. However she kept going with her tale. "I eventually got the first published, but my publisher was, and frankly still is, afraid that putting my face out there would cause questionable media given my condition. So, we hired a stand in to take credit in the media light. He's a promising writer but his passion is cooking. He wrote his own book but his quality and habits don't sync with mine. He's attending culinary school nowadays since the major hype of the trilogy has settled."
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Hideo Kino
In-Training
Posts: 0
OOC Name: Lvl 20 Skeleton Warlock
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Post by Hideo Kino on May 26, 2018 19:04:13 GMT
She really liked to talk about herself, it seemed. Maybe it was a bunch of stuff she'd wanted to talk to other people about, but never got the chance to say, or maybe she did and nobody would believe her. He knew most people wouldn't believe him if claimed he'd done half the stuff she did by her (actual) age, even if he could see, so maybe she was a lot more comfortable talking about it with him.
Seemed he made the right choice to encourage her to talk. And it helped that he was genuinely interested in learning more about her.
As she went on, the attendant came back, this time with Hideo's order. She made sure to let him know his food had arrived by outright telling him, though he knew the moment the scent of the hot cocoa hit his nose. He was gonna give that a little bit of time to cool down, but what he wouldn't hesitate to start chowing down on was the omelette sandwich, which had a lovely combination of ham and cheese on nice, fluffy bread.
Yeah, he didn't regret this choice either.
But before he took another bite, he took a moment as Akimi spoke about how she was an author. A bit disappointing that she wasn't actually immortal, but it still sounded like she'd be young a lot longer than he would be. "Doesn't seem fair that someone else has to get all the credit for your work," he said, finishing up his first bite and swallowing. "You're doing all of the work, so you should get all the credit for it." He was familiar with the whole idea behind a ghost-writer, but it seemed like the guy was more interested in making food than making stories.
He took a moment to think about it all, before he giggled. "Man, I don't think even half of that'll happen by the time I'm your age. My life's boring compared to yours."
Probably the only strange thing going on in his life was that there was a spider living in his house that talked to him. And that didn't seem as weird as what she'd been through in her life.
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Post by Akimi Midoria on May 29, 2018 4:50:09 GMT
Akimi sighed as she listened to the reaction of the boy, she knew he was absolutely right. However her publisher had a point as well, but not everything was as cherry as someone getting to rest on her laurels. "Well, he had a decent gig until he made a mistake." Akimi took a sip of her tea as she recalled the poor fate of her stand in. She knew he didn't deserve her pity let alone forgiveness, but she couldn't let it go by. "He no longer has the small cut of my novels royalty due to breaking terms of contract. His contract stated that if he decided to publish any work of fiction, it would have to be checked by me first. Other than preserving the cover, I had no horse in the race as the money would not be touchable by me."
Akimi took a bite out of her muffin taking a pause to eat as she decided to play it with a bit of suspense. She figured if she had to entertain this office mishap as her stand in really shouldn't have tried to publish a book in the first place. She hoped that her story was still entertaining to the boy. "His book is good, but in publishing his book I was supposed to review it beforehand so no one would question it. You see, each person has their own patterns in writing, and sometimes it can be seen, which I tried to prevent. He went behind my back after the 139 edits I suggested. He made the edits in one script but he switched out the scripts at the publishing facility. As punishment he lost his cut of my work and next time he violates the contract, he's being dropped from the company and potentially faces legal action."
She herself used to like her stand in, but as of late since the fiasco she had mixed feelings towards the young man. She sipped her tea letting the story catch up with Hideo. She wondered what Hideo thought, knowing children he probably had a black and white view towards life. Sometimes that view could be refreshing. Continuing on, she figured better to talk about who he is before painting him in a dark shadow completely. "He spent most of his life in a hospital like me, but instead of an odd condition, he ended up with scars and stitches after the dust settled. He was sought out by my publisher since he showed great promise. His dream is to open a restaurant. He's been using the royalty funds to help him through culinary school."
Akimi then heard what she couldn't find was crazy. She didn't like to hear others think they couldn't be something worth looking twice at. "There's no such thing as a boring character, sometimes they have a open path ahead of them that they cannot be seen just yet.:
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Hideo Kino
In-Training
Posts: 0
OOC Name: Lvl 20 Skeleton Warlock
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Post by Hideo Kino on May 29, 2018 20:09:30 GMT
Hideo listened as Akimi continued on with her tale, eating his omelette sandwich and drinking his now-cooled cocoa. With all that went on with her and that author she was ghost-writing for, it was no wonder she was so willing to tell anyone who'd listen about it. With little room to get a word in until the end, he was finished with his sandwich and cocoa by the time she was done talking. It was an unfortunate situation all-around: she had to write without anyone knowing it was her, and he failed at trying something he wanted to do, but wasn't completely passionate about, which had some back consequences on his life. Hideo didn't dare mention that he felt some sympathy for the other guy - he doubted she'd like to hear that. " That's pretty rough," he said. " But I guess it's alright now that everything's settled between you and him. I just hope you'll eventually get the credit for all the work you've done. Especially if you're willing to put so much work, even in helping someone with their own writing." He nodded at the mention of no-one being boring. " Yeah, but compared to you, I'm boring. Apart from not being able to see, nothing's really happened to me. I haven't had to write any books or spend a lot of time in the hospital. Or becoming kinda-immortal. I'm just a normal kid." This was why he liked talking to people he'd only just met. They all had fun stories like this to tell him. But before he could say any more, a ringing noise came from his phone. A text, and the phone read out its source: Shiina Kino. With a few button presses, it read out the message to him. done with ur date? im right outside waitin 4 uOh hey. Seemed like his sister was back. He still was wondering where she'd gone that he couldn't come along, but what mattered was that she was back.
...did she just call it a date? And did Akimi hear that?
He blushed a little. There was no way that was some kind of date.
He didn't want to keep her waiting, but it'd be rude to just leave this conversation. He placed the money she'd given him on the table - he wasn't sure exactly how much it was, but he was sure it would be enough to cover his food.
"I-I'm sorry if that wording was a bit awkward. It was nice talking to you, Akimi, but I gotta go. Maybe we'll get a chance another time!"
And so, he (carefully) got off his chair, walking over to the exit where his sister was waiting for him.
-exit thread-
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