Is this seat taken?

[andtherevolution]

WHO: Utena Tenjou and Kaworu Nagisa
WHERE: The lunchroom of their high school
WHEN: Early October
WHAT: Utena needs some space, and comes across someone from space. Sorta.
WARNINGS: None so far



[Utena Tenjou likes people. She likes people a lot, in fact. But after weeks upon weeks of questions from other students, even she needs some space. So as soon as she gets to the cafeteria, she books it for the nearest empty table, and- huh. There's this boy she's seen around before. Silver hair. Reddish eyes. She hasn't seen any native student who looks like that. Curious, she takes her brown paper sack lunch and
walks towards him with a smile.]

Hey there. Does this seat belong to anyone?

Comments

[braceforimpact]

[Kaworu rarely sits alone, really. It's only when Shinji--for whatever reason--is unavailable that his lunches are spent by himself, and then he spends them... mostly bored, sitting at a table with no need to eat and no interest in pretending to.

He's honestly just waiting for this exceptionally tedious part of an already tedious experience to be over when Utena startles him to alertness, and he glances over.

He... what?]

.... it belongs to the school.

[andtherevolution]

[...uh. Utena blinks, not quite sure what to say, and shakes her head]

That's not what I... What I mean is, is anyone sitting here?

[Okay, so maybe this guy is a little literal. Maybe he's not used to how things work around here. She'll just. Try and explain things, if she needs to.]

[braceforimpact]

[Kaworu blinks. Froms briefly. Gives her a weird, half-amused smile.]

Obviously not.

[Why would you need to ask a question like that? Either someone is in that chair or they're not, right?]

[andtherevolution]

Not right now, obviously, but-

[UGH. Is this guy being dense on purpose? She huffs out, before plopping down on the seat]

...you're pretty new here, aren't you?

[She's trying to be patient. She's really, really trying. But first, she needs to gauge how much this guy knows.]

Paid is out, etc etc

[braceforimpact]

Yes.

[New enough.

But at least Kaworu replies to that one easily and actually appropriately, for once in his entire life. Maybe if you keep things simple enough, you can have something passing for an actual conversation with him!]

You're not?

[Implied by the question, but not exclusively.]

[andtherevolution]

No, I am - I just came here a couple months ago. Things are pretty different here, but not too different. I mean, I don't come from the middle ages or a different planet or anything crazy like that. It's still Earth. It's just that this Earth has kind of a weird history.

[Meaning: she knows how basic chair etiquette works]

[braceforimpact]

Does it? I don't know much about history.

[He looks... a little amused. He was told that human history is full of war and conflict and greed and pain and loss and all, but that's about all he really knows. In that regard, this is the same.]

But why would it be 'crazy' to be from another planet? Isn't that less weird?

[You know, than finding yourself on Earth, but it's totally different? Not that Kaworu would really know, but.........]

[andtherevolution]

[Utena leans forward, resting her elbows on the table.]

I'm not sure why. If you came from someplace completely different, that would make it harder to get used to life here, right? There'd be different countries, different people...

[She starts jiggling her foot without realizing it, the intensity increasing gradually as she speaks]

Even the food would be different. But if there's something similar, even if it's only one or two things, then maybe that would make life a little less strange. Or-

[The table starts to wiggle, just enough for her to notice, and the jiggling stops immediately.]

...or at least, a little less lonely.