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 Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 12:15 am
It was a little surreal, to be sitting down to have coffee with another graduate student when Asher wasn't sure how much longer....well, Asher would exist. But that didn't mean they shouldn't keep their appointments, for as long as they could manage. Besides, they liked Reiki; he was a delightful collaborator in Ashger's work on queer folklore, a wonderful person to discuss ideas with, and a general delight to be around.
His choice in fiance, Asher felt, could use some work, but there was only so much they could judge, considering what they were planning to do for a girl.
They sighed, setting aside their coffee. At least a meeting with Reiki at the on-campus coffee shop would be a little while to avoid thinking about everything going on for them magically, and focus entirely on work. Probably a necessary break, if they were entirely honest. Being Carterhaugh was far too stressful. It would be nice to just be Asher for a while.
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 1:25 am
Reiki was running late, he realized as he barreled out of the library to make for the coffee shop. How he’d let himself lose track of time while mucking around in, he couldn’t explain—but, in fairness to himself, for just over three weeks, he’d lagged behind the rest of…everyone and everything, as far as he could tell.
As ever, the world spun madly on. Classes met when they were supposed to. Reiki sat in on Obaasan’s lectures for the undergraduates and hosted his discussion groups with them. The undergrads handed him their work and waited for him to hand it back with varying degrees of eagerness and dread. Miss Sayuri Kurobara Disobedience made her bookings and hosted her shows without anybody hemming or hand-wringing about what people at Congressman Hayes’ campaign office would think—yet, through it all, Reiki hadn’t quite managed to catch up with the rest of linear time.
It was like the flip-over for daylight savings time all over again, except that usually sorted itself out within a couple days. Today, Reiki didn’t even wonder if he should text Asher or not until he rocked up to the crosswalk right across from the coffee shop. Advance notice hardly mattered at that point, Reiki figured, pocketing his phone and fighting off the urge to rock back and forth on his heels.
His fingers brushed against his skirt’s fabric on the way out. The softness almost made him jump, slipping against the paler strip of skin where Reiki used to wear a golden ring.
Reiki bit his lip to banish that thought. No use dwelling on the spilled milk now. Not when knocking over the glass meant, among other things, that Reiki could wear this skirt—longer and more modest than he’d wear on his own time, with houndstooth print and a waist so high that it might as well have been a bodice—to campus and not get an earful about any number of stupid things. Moreover, all too soon, the light changed, and the tide of people surged across the street, and Reiki was swerved out of the current.
Ducking into the coffee shop, he combed his eyes over the other patrons. Fortunately, he spotted Asher quickly enough and made a beeline for their table. “I am so sorry,” Reiki said as he disentangled his bag from his shoulder. “I was at the library, someone shelved some books in the wrong places, and even if they hadn’t?” He shrugged and offered a small smirk. “You know how it goes with asking queers to tell time.”
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 1:50 am
It was a little unexpected, as far as Ashger was concerned, for Reiki to be late--but then, they hardly noticed the time themself, such was the nature of their distraction. Mostly,t hey noticed that they were making quite a lot of headway on their coffee, and that they had spent far too much time pondering.
Reiki's arrival, in a flurry of apologies, made them sit up, and they couldn't help but crack a smile. "I was a little lost in thought myself. I'm just glad you were able to make it." They gestured. "Sit down, unless you want to grab something. That skirt looks fantastic, by the way, is it new?"
There was something different about him--about the way he carried himself, and his level of distraction. They searched for any other differences, anytihng that might pinpoint the change--but honestly, it was probably better ot jsut ask, rather than guess and possibly be both wrong and rude.
"Anything else new in your life? Something seems a little off, and I don't want to take shots in the dark."
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 7:40 am
Asher’s smile helped settle Reiki’s nerves, and their response helped him breathe more easily. Good—he still could’ve texted sooner, yes, but at least Asher understood. And they appreciated Reiki’s skirt, which he answered with a nod and a small smile. A moment’s hesitation, then he threw in a quick twirl to show off how the garment moved.
“It is—I just finished it…weekend before last—and thanks! It’s not quite my own base design, but…well, you get used to that when the brands you’d like to wear don’t generally picture someone your size wearing anything they make.” A terrible oversight on the parts of Atelier Pierrot and Baby, The Stars Shine Bright, though not one Reiki could entirely hold against them. Most people buying their pieces, as far as he knew, did not stand over six feet tall without the help of heels.
Dimly, he thought of Someone and one of the disagreements-but-not-exactly-fights they’d had in the last few months…of what he’d said as he’d swooped in from behind while Reiki was pinning fabric to his dress-form…of the strategic placement of his hands on Reiki’s waist and his later-expressed intent of deterring Reiki from spending quite so much time in any outfits that could come off as too “controversial”.… God, the thought made the coffee shop’s assorted scones and cookies look that much more appealing.
“I do think I want to get something, yeah…so, I can explain more when I get back? But as far as new things go…” Reiki held out his left hand for Asher as if he were a princess, offering some knight the chance to kiss his knuckles. Just so they couldn’t miss the main feature—or, rather, its absence—he tilted his wrist so his ring finger stuck out more. “She’s a free woman again…and sorry for that, too—that I didn’t mention it sooner, I mean. …Everything’s been a bit of a blur since it happened; I keep spacing on who I have or haven’t told yet. Dr. Blackwater’s been helping me scope things out for my dissertation and she only even realized this morning.”
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 3:51 pm
Reiki's talent for sewing was something that always impressed Asher--they had no gift for handicrafts, really, and the actual ability to do that sort of seemed like wizardry to them. They clapped, a little, when Reiki twirled, taking in the flow of it--very impressive, they knew.
"I imagine that's difficult," they agreed. "I have an easier time, all things considered, but anything in the bust area is a nightmare." They shook their head, unhappily. Though, at least skinny jeans generally fit well, even if cute tops were sometimes inaccessible because they were made for a chest that Asher simply did not have.
But they couldn't stop the very pleased little grin that crossed their face when they saw the missing ring.
"You get to decide on your time when you're ready to talk about something like that," they said, waving a hand. "But I won't pretend I'm not glad to hear it. I really, really did not like him, and I didn't like the way he made you dim your shine, darling." They sighed, shaking their head. "Go, get yourself something nice, you can tell me all about it once you have coffee and a pastry."
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 5:01 pm
“It’s easier to do with a few years of practice under your belt.” More like several, considering when Aunt Hanako and Miss Sibyl had started giving him lessons in how to fix and create a garment, but that was beside the point. “Also easier without…certain people…lurking around to express their discomfort with a skirt like this—which never made sense, after what I was wearing when he met me, but…”
With a sharp inhale, Reiki shook his head, trying to jostle himself back around to the here and now. No need to dwell on Greg, or his stupid opinions about anything, or the way that Margarita and Maddie Lynn felt certain they’d seen Greg out at The Closet with some new twink already, or the fact that Greg’s objections to a perfectly modest work skirt made no sense when they’d met shortly after Miss Sayuri Kurobara Disobedience had finished a number to Missy Elliot’s “Work It” while dressed up to channel an energy like “Rosie the Riveter played by Bettie Page on the cover of Hustler, trying her damn best to get Larry Flynt slapped with another round of obscenity charges.”
Fortunately, begging off to get his coffee provided an ample opportunity to tamp all of that down and push it to the back of his mind, where it damn well belonged. There wasn’t any reason to let Greg ruin a perfectly nice afternoon. He wasn’t part of Reiki’s life anymore, period, end of story. As Reiki finally sat down, coffee and chocolate chocolate-chip muffin in hand, that didn’t feel entirely true, but he could work on that.
“Picking up where we left off? I’m honestly not sure what more needs to be said about him or any of it.” Plenty of things, probably, or at least Mom, Dad, Ojiisan, Junsei, and Reiki’s therapist all seemed to think so. “Things had been tense for a while? Then one night, Cherry calls me up, asking if I can get to Scandals to cover for one of my sisters at the last minute. Of course, I say ‘yes,’ as if I’d say anything else when the show must go on? And while I’m getting my things together, he had the audacity…”
Rolling his eyes, Reiki dove into a long sip of his coffee. Failing step one in the plan of leaving him out of things—very that. “Well, it was the last straw, what he asked me that night. So, here we are.… I just…haven’t done the best job of keeping track of who knows or doesn’t yet.… Half-expecting somebody or other to find out first from Grindr, sooner or later.”
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 5:51 pm
Asher nodded, but rolled their eyes at yet another expression of why Greg was, simply, the worst. His respectability politics nonsense had always gotten on Asher's nerves, and it was more than a bit of a relief to hear that he was out of Reiki's life forever. Or, at least, hopefully for forever.
They broke off a piece of their cinnamon chip scone, which had mostly been sitting ignored, and waited for Reiki to come back--the line was quick, today, and that meant they weren't waiting long. Just long enough to wonder if, once things were settled, they might bring Aegirine here.
"He is a trashcan of a man and I'm glad he's out of the picture," Asher said, "and that is my full and compete opinion on that." A fuller and more complete opinion that Greg deserved, if you asked them. The suggestion of where someone else might find out, though, made them snort, deeply amused.
"If someone does, I hope he takes good care of you," they said, and they considered for a moment--and then decided that since personal gossip was on the table, personal gossip was on the table. "I've started seeing someone recently, too. Sweet girl. Has some problems, but...I'm hoping I can encourage her to get help."
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 9:31 pm
Hearing Asher’s bit of personal news, Reiki tried to tamp down his initial impulse to perk up. Being too excited could have given away too much of the real underlying feeling, even as someone with well-known Dramatic tendencies that had been lovingly honed by an adolescence as a theater kid, an early adoption by the first of his drag mothers, and very loving, supportive parents.
Mostly, this was an issue because here, Asher had offered the chance to not talk about Greg, and Reiki wanted to jump on it like teenagers on a trampoline.
“That’s so great for you, though,” he said, offering Asher a genuine smile, because finding a new paramour was nice for them. Lovely, even. “And I mean—getting her to accept help might be a bit of a process? But at the same time, pretty much everyone has problems, right? And unless hers are at the point of some…critical systems failure or something similar? Then, even if it takes some time to help her see something better, so she can have that better for herself, it’ll be worth it, right?”
A quick sip of coffee, then Reiki added, “As long as you remember to take care of yourself, too.… Because helping someone special to you—that’s worth it, but…you can’t exactly help her if you’re letting yourself drown in the process, y’know?”
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 10:02 pm
It seemed a little obvious, to Asher, how eager Reiki was to have something else to talk about. Still, there were few chances for them to talk about Aegirine, and while they couldn't exactly explain all of the details--telling Reiki about magic without knowing if he was magical or what side he was on was quite risky--still, there were parts of it that could be discussed, with the right elisions.
"I think it will be," they agreed, "but....no, I'm not worried that it's at the critical systems failure point, yet." Maybe it had been in the past. Maybe she had crawled out of a hole that deep before. But right now....it was bad, Asher judge,d but not quite that bad. "Just...." They sighed. "She's been through a lot. And I admire her perseverance."
To say the very least.
"And I promise, I'll remember to look after myself." Though, they had to wonder--where exactly did "deciding to give up your life and identity" fall on that particular scale? Ah well. Magical complications added an extra layer to everything,t hey supposed.
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