pendantry | Seven

Seven

[Raven is late for work this morning.

She's hard on herself about it all morning long, working on her projects with hardly a word to anyone else, because things like that are unacceptable. Especially when she's in this kind of mood. When it comes around to lunch time she stalks out of the smithy, bag in hand, sore on top of being frustrated with herself.

Usually she sits on the bench outside the building if it's a nice day; this time her feet take her all the way to the plaza, to sit by the fountain and break the bread of her sandwich bun into little pieces for the local birds. She's just not hungry. They are, so why not share? A small cluster of them shares her bench with her until or unless someone walks by to disturb them.

For a while, she sits there and stares at nothing. Lately everyone is whispering about that going-home stuff. And while she misses home...is Luceti really so terrible? It's like a bigger, weirder Sharance sometimes. Thinking about this too much is giving her a headache, though, so she rubs her temples with a low irate sound and gets up to go back to work.

Then lightheadedness kicks in, she overbalances too much to one side, and into the fountain she goes, cut off before she can finish shouting.

Thus, she is wet and disheveled and heavy-eyed by the time she does get back to work. Late. Again. And at last, obviously not feeling well after all.]

[[ooc: I do not mind timeline-breaking this or that in here! There are lots of places to cook up shenanigans or have a chat.]]

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[When Tsuna hears the sudden splash and yell, he jumps and spills his drink all over himself. Luckily, he was only drinking water. Unluckily, there's now a very awkward damp spot on his crotch. SIGH. WELP.

He shakes his head at himself and then peers over the edge of the fountain. Whoa, random wet girl.]

Uh, hey, are you okay??

[A bit of staring and belatedly, he offers her his hand.]

[Her glare is made even more potent by how wet and irritated she is.]

Fine. Go away.

[To Tsuna's credit, he doesn't waver in his offer. He steps closer to her, hand still held out.]

... Then, well, you don't lose anything by letting me help you anyway, so why not?

[He smiles a bit nervously at her. C'mon, Raven, he can't just leave a wet girl like that.]

[She is trying to get out of the fountain by herself by now. The shakiness just slows her down.

She kind of can't believe he is still there with his hand out, either.]

I can do it myself.

[Nope.]

[At this point, Tsuna's standing there looking pretty lame. He slowly retracts his hand and instead hovers by her side (still a polite distance away) just in case she happens to fall into the water again.]

I'm not saying you can't... [Though he sounds rather doubtful about that.] But okay...

[He failed the test. The briefest forlorn look passes over Raven's face before she hauls herself over the edge of the fountain and right onto the ground. Flop.]

[He fails all the tests! Can't you tell by his username?]

Whoa--hey!! [He double fails for not managing to catch her, partly because it's really not okay to touch an unwilling woman. But at the same time, she's not okay at all. He lays a tentative hand on her arm in an attempt to guide her into a sitting position, but wow her skin is burning.

Tsuna, it's time to man up.]

Gah, I think you really need help. I'm going to take you to the clinic. I'm really, really sorry, okay? [She looks about his size. He could prooobably carry her.]

[While she doesn't shrug off his hand, she gets to her feet just fine using the edge of the fountain for backup. Then she stares at him, hard.]

I don't go to the clinic.

[WHAT WHY NOT]

But you're burning up!

I don't like it.

[Even Gaius has to force her into it.]

[He wishes he could avoid doing all the things he dislikes, too! Alas, the world doesn't work that way.]

Still... I think you owe it to your body, at least. I-it's not just about you. [Okay, TECHNICALLY IT IS ABOUT HER...] It's not like you have to stay, right? Just a quick stop!

I'll be fine. [After the graceful fall into the fountain and her ceremonious flop out of it, it's hard to say she is fine. Thus, the future.]

[Jeez, what a stubborn girl...]

But you're not fine now!!

[If only Reborn were here to shoot him with the Dying Will bullet. He'd just scoop up this girl and get her to the clinic ASAP, objections be damned. SIGH!]

Why do you care so much?

[Stranger. Persistent and annoying boy. Stupidly worried.

All of those apply, right now.]

Why? [Uhhhh...] Well, isn't it normal to care! I think I should be asking you that--kinda. Why do you care so little?

I care. [Of course she cares. She is just stubborn and loyal to her work and thinks it matters more to be there.]

Then let's go!

[Your work won't matter if you're dead from pneumonia or something equally horrible.]

I'll go home and sleep.

[Then will he leave her alone about the clinic? Or maybe she'll just crash on the smithy couch for a while...]

[RAVEN, PLEASE]

And then what??

Wake up, eventually.

[What was he expecting? She starts walking with a half-shrug. Maybe heading for her house. Maybe going back to the smithy.]

[He was and still is expecting her to then go see a doctor--or nurse or healer or whatever they call them in this weird place!]

Eventually... More like "hopefully." [He sighs and then follows her.] Can I walk you home, then? Just to make sure you get there safely. Without falling into any more fountains.

[Sigh.]

That's fine, I guess.

[Except she was going to sneak to work. Oh well. Once he's gone she'll return to the smithy right.]

[All the sighing up in here. No need to sound so enthusiastic, everyone.]

I promise I'm not a creep or anything, miss... Ah--what's your name, by the way?

[This time she manages not to sigh.]

Raven.

Nice to meet you, Raven-san. Ha, probably could have met on better terms though. My name's Tsuna Sawada.

[Tuna and Raven. A fish and a bird, huh. No wonder they haven't been able to get along swimmingly. But at least it's not a T*m and J*rry situation yet.]

What were you doing at the fountain before? Er, besides falling into it and stuff.

[Idle talk because walking with a stranger is awkwaaaard.]

OVER A MONTH LATER...

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