shinelikea | (no subject)

"Kanan-san! How many times must I tell you, sit up properly!"

The great urgency to Dia's voice might be a bit superfluous given that Kanan's just barely slouching, and that there's nobody in the room to see it but the two of them. But that's how Dia gets when she's nervous: five times prissier about absolutely everything. Since her arrival, she's adjusted the photo frames on Kanan's bedroom wall three times over, re-folded her bedsheets (it's not her fault Kanan's bad at it), straightened Kanan's collar, straightened her own collar, fixed Kanan's hair, fixed her own hair, and goodness she's only been here ten minutes. Having exhausted her list of things to fidget with, Dia's finally resorted to pacing around in circles, wringing her hands together, and alternating between talking to herself and chastising Kanan for any minor offense she may commit.

"Mari-san will be here at any moment," that's the 'to herself' part-- "I want you to take this very seriously!" And this is the chastising Kanan part. "This is a highly delicate matter. If we do not handle it with care, it may well shatter the precious friendship we've worked so hard to rebuild! Do you understand? I need you to follow our script to the letter! We can afford to take no risks!"

Her voice rises in a squeaking crescendo the longer she goes in. In truth, maybe rather than giving this lecture for the umpteenth time that day, what Dia truly needs is to sit down and have a cup of tea, and also possibly a hug.

She seems awfully keen on that lecture, though.

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Of course everything will work out, because Mari is here. Things can't be bad when the three of them are together - Kanan and Dia are very much Mari's Best Girls, so whatever they had to talk about her with had to be good.

In true boisterous Mari fashion, she'll be shoving the door to Kanan's room open with little to no regard for tact. They had to be happy to see her, right? Right.

"Ciao! Sorry to keep you ladies waiting~"

If Kanan's soothing attempts had managed to quiet Dia down somewhat, Mari's thunderous entrance negates their effect instantly. She jumps, coupled with a highly undignified squawk, then scrambles back onto her feet.

"Mari-san! Honestly! Would it kill you to announce your presence without giving me a heart attack, just this once?"

The scolding is more for show than anything -- the fact is, Mari's here in the room with them, and they're actually about to be having this conversation. A heart attack may well be inevitable regardless of how Mari chose to make her entrance.

They've rehearsed this. Countless times. It should be fine, but--

god oh god Dia's so nervous.

"I'll-- I'll go make us some tea! Make yourself comfortable, I shall be right back!"

And there she goes, making her hasty escape to the kitchen.

Well, at least she can say that she tried? She expected nothing less than a boisterous entrance from their always energetic friend. She expected Dia to get flustered again, but not so flustered that she had to leave the room. Kanan supposes it might be a good thing that Dia knows the ins and outs of her kitchen, and that it will only be the three of them here for this conversation.

So as Dia exits, Kanan pats the bed beside her for Mari.

"Maybe a little warning next time would be good."

Her own heart might be racing, but, she has to be the calm one here. At least, that is the task that she's given herself at the moment. She's going to keep calm so that Dia will be calm, and so that hopefully Mari will also be calm when they begin this conversation.

"Sit with me?"

"Wait! Dia, you can't leave yet-"

It's said as Dia is already out the door, and Mari pouts in response. Sure, it's normal for Dia to get a little shy at times, but she all but flew out of the room!

She flops onto the place that Kanan patted for her, looking over to her with puppy dog eyes.

"But I did give you guys warning! You knew I was coming, right?"

Also in true Mari fashion, she won't hesitate in wrapping her arms around Kanan's waist and lightly headbutting her shoulder.

Not her subtlest or most graceful exit to be sure, but Dia nonetheless heaves a sigh of relief as soon as she's out of the room. Was it unfair of her to leave Kanan on her own with Mari? Admittedly -- yes, and she'll have to apologize later. But she acted on instinct and it's a bit late for regrets, so for now she'll have to do with getting the tea ready and hoping Kanan can ease Mari in okay.

... and once she's done, she may or may not hover outside the closed door a moment. Not-- not eavesdropping, heaven forbid! Just... checking in from the outside. Yes.

"Of course we knew that you were coming," she sighs a little. Not hesitating to put an arm around Mari this time. Usually she might tease or get flustered but now was the time to send a different kind of message.

But how does she even preface something like this? She will have to figure it out.

"Dia and I wanted to talk to you about something."

That was decent, but maybe a little misleading?!

"It's nothing bad, I promise! Just...we really needed to talk to you."

Always happy for contact, Mari will happily snuggle into Kanan's hold. If Dia is going to be silly, at least she has her!

...Or so she thinks. She raises her head, giving Kanan a vaguely confused look. There's definitely something she's not getting, and she doesn't like it one bit.

"About what? I feel so out of the loop!"