shinelikea | (no subject)

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"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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She should have expected something like this, Dia always tended to get overbearing when she was nervous. She straightened her posture, allowed Dia to fuss with her hair, and allowed her to pace the floor. It was true that the subject matter was rather sensitive, to think either of them would have thought of this.

She shows her own nervousness much differently, shifting in her spot— quietly letting Dia do as she pleases. When she does chip in, she reaches forward to take both of Dia's hands into hers. She gives a gentle tug to get her to come closer.

"Pacing around won't get her to come here any quicker," she's taking a soft and reassuring time with her. There wasn't any way that they could possibly talk this through anymore. "We've had this conversation, right? At least twice over text and another two times in person. Anything we say to her will be something we thought over, okay?" Kanan is here to give Dia what she needs, hand holding and a stern talking to of her own.

"Now, take a breath and sit down with me?"

Dia opens her mouth with a mighty intake of air, as if about to unleash the world's longest-winded protest -- but in the end, she only stares at Kanan in silence for a moment before heaving out a sigh.

She hates when Kanan makes sense.

"Fine." Though audibly reluctant, she relents, giving Kanan's hands a squeeze before taking a seat beside her. Unfortunately, blocking the physical outlet to her restlessness only serves to make her more restless, made evident by the tension in her shoulders and the tapping of her toes against the floor. If she can just keep still for longer than two minutes, it's sure to do wonders for her nerves, but that kind of foresight seems to be escaping Dia at present. To her, this feels like torture.

Tap tap tap tap tap tap.

Ugh. At this rate, she'll end up driving herself insane. Not to mention poor, blameless Kanan, who really doesn't deserve this at all.

"I'm sorry," Dia blurts, awkward. "I-- I might be a little nervous."

The commentary is as redundant as it is an understatement, but it's something.

The admission causes her to laugh at the very least. It isn't in a mocking way, it's more fond than anything. Poor Dia didn't know what to do with herself, and Kanan could only do so much for her. It isn't like she can really deny that she feels just as nervous.

Kanan is willing to deal with the mounting tension in the room as long as neither of them backed out of this. It was too late to back out anyways. With Mari already on her way over here there wasn't any way that they could really stop this conversation from happening. The reality of that sets in and Kanan needs to take a deep breath. She will turn her attention to her equally if not more nervous girlfriend.

"You know, I'm pretty nervous too." She starts her thought off carefully, as if to continue with her reassuring sentiments. She had a knack to be persistent in that way. "I think we might be worrying a little too much. Maybe she will take it really well? We just have to believe that."

She lets go of Dia's hands to slide an arm around her shoulders. "Relax a little? I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere."

Of course, they have no way of assessing Mari's reaction -- the scenario they are soon to face is wholly unprecedented. As such, there's no grounds to the assumption Mari would take it well, and Dia has always preferred over-cautious pessimism to reckless optimism. Yet despite all this -- it's easier, in this moment, to just accept Kanan's words with no arguments or skepticism. It's better for Dia's heart if all she were to do was snuggle up to Kanan's side and nod.

So she does. She follows Kanan's reassuring words, and does her best to settle in what little time they have. Kanan's closeness is soothing; her body's warmth, her even voice. And knowing that she's nervous, too, makes the anxious knot in Dia's stomach lighter.

"... Thank you." Dia forces a deep, slow inhale. "You're right, there's no point in working ourselves up like this. We've made up our minds with this decision, and went through all the necessary preparations... all there is to it now is carry it out the best we can."

There we go. Calm, logical Dia Kurosawa, the way it should be. She bites her lip through a relieved smile, looking up at Kanan and--

"Ah, wait. You have a hair sticking out right here..."

Keeps right with the fiddling.

She takes a relieved breath, visibly seeing Dia relax against her is a strand of hope that maybe they would just be able to get this out without any trouble or missteps. That perhaps this would go well and they had nothing more to worry about. Mari was their precious friend and she can't imagine that the eccentric girl would let this get between their friendship should she not share these same feelings.

"It's better you got it out now, isn't it? You'll be more prepared when Mari gets here." Kanan knows what to say, how to make her girlfriend feel more confident. She had to make Dia believe in herself. Kanan certainly believed in her.

She takes Dia's hand again, preventing her from fussing with her hair too much more. She's smiling at her. "Just be yourself when she gets here, okay? Everything will work out." Constant reassurance, it was her strong point.

Edited 2017-01-20 17:16 (UTC)

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!"

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