always second-best.

hi, so! i'm unsure if i'll be able to get this shadowban lifted from this blog (atm i don't show up in ppl's activity properly, can't send/receive asks, my replies/likes don't show up in notes, can't IM, etc.)

since this is the situation, i'm thinking about remaking this blog so that i can actually. y'know. interact with people again. however! i have a few other jj.ba ocs, so i am wondering:

There was a cherry blossom cushion? Pillow? Of decent quality there. The botanist in her willed it-- she would obtain that thing if it was the last thing she ever did.

"Don't worry about food, kiddo-- I'll handle everything. I did spy somethin' I think we could have a good try at-- look jus' ahead, there," she says, pointing to the booth. "It's intermediate level, I feel. I think it'd make good practice fer you while also still bein' a challenge." Hikari was somewhat lying here, as it would have it. In fact, it was a bit easier than intermediate, but she had the intent of helping Hachi boost her self esteem. It would still be hard to get the rings around, she assumed, but a slight exaggeration could only be to her li'l apprentice's benefit.

Well, I might be aiming too high, but it’s important to go in with a goal in mind, right? With an earnestly serious expression, Hachi gives a small clench and pump of a fist, then straightens up. She's about to suggest the stall herself when Hikari beats her to it. Hikari’s seeming confidence in Hachi buoys her a little, as usual (does she really think of Hachi as an “intermediate-level” kind of person?). 

“Um–yes. Let’s try it! I’ll give it my best shot.” Though some lingering uncertainty remains, Hachi makes a point to head towards the stall with as wide and confident-looking of a stride as she can muster (which is still, in all likelihood, a bit too stiff to really land right). And, with what’s probably too formal of a greeting to the clerk manning the stall, she trades a couple hundred yen for several rings, listens earnestly to the droning instructions, and steps a few paces back as she tries to gauge the right angle and distance before peeking over her shoulder at Hikari.

Manon nods understandingly at the younger girl’s shampoo woes; it was a rough couple of months after her bottle of conditioner from home ran out, but she thinks her hair has adjusted to the new product. Mostly. Nothing the right updo can’t mask.

Speaking of adjustment periods: the incinerator. Her first cleaning duty partner still teases her for the overcareful way she deposited the trash, but it’s all in good fun—she thinks. She’s much more confident with it now, lobbing a bag with practiced ease; the motion isn’t dissimilar to the way she’s handled sacks of flowers during the harvest.

“Hm…” Manon reexamines Hachi’s hair in play scrutiny, a faint smile on her lips to soften the effect, “…yes, that must be it.” She hasn’t gotten close enough to pick up on the fragrance, but she’d approve of that, too, if she had. She picks up another bag before the other girl has a chance to do so.

She pivots as the conversation turns self-deprecating, trash dropping from her hands for unintentional emphasis.

“Oh, no, not at all!” she insists. Manon’s head shakes, face-framing strands swinging; after a long day at school, the motion pries a few curls loose from her chignon.

“It looks… artfully tousled, if anything. It’s very flattering.”

She's a little too caught up in Manon's effortless heft of the garbage bag next (So confident! Hachi is always half-worried the bag will rip and rain garbage down on her if she's not careful, though that's never actually happened) before she realizes Manon has now grabbed two bags to Hachi's zero, which is no good--especially when it's Hachi who should be doing all the work here for reasons she's decided on her own. She takes up the one bag at her side and sneakily moves to grab for the one Manon had just dropped, as well.

"H--eh?" After managing to toss one bag (she's sure not nearly so coolly as her upperclassman) into the incinerator, the other girl's compliment lands and Hachi turns to look at her, wide-eyed and face pink. "Oh, that's--'artfully tousled', gosh..." She runs a frantic hand through her curls again, her other hand grabbing tight to the remaining garbage bag, and releases a nervous little laugh. "I think that's definitely giving me too much credit, haha--but, thank you. That's really--nice of you to say. I mean..."

Here she takes a moment to gesture clumsily to Manon's own hair, as if to say 'Especially when yours looks so much nicer', before her hand drops back to join the other around the tie of the garbage bag, fidgeting around the twist of the plastic there.

"My hair used to be longer, but it was really hard to manage... it looks like you take really good care of yours, senpai, to keep it looking so pretty and healthy at that length. I really... admire that."