video;

[revolutionized]

[Wow, someone has...a lot of Valentine's swag in their room. Flying, singing toy cupids, cards that sparkle, boxes of chocolates...

But Utena doesn't look too happy about it. She's currently attempting to push one of the toy cupids into a overstuffed trunk, cursing under her breath all the while. The trunk promptly flies open in an explosion of heart-shaped glitter and various Valentine presents.

Utena slumps against the trunk, and her hair is quickly covered in a fine, shimmering glitter. She sighs. Sorry Alma, the room is totally ruined right now.]

The best part about this dumb holiday is when it's over. Is going to the ball mandatory?

[Can't turn off her swag, etc.]

Comments

[action] because visiting

[headedforhope]

[Mami is sitting on Utena's bunk, alternating between turning the cupids mute and making them drop to the floor with idle, amused motions of her wand. She doesn't seem overly concerned about Utena's struggles - but then, when does Mami seem outwardly bothered about anything? - and just laughs quietly to herself.]

My, you really don't want to go? I think it sounds rather fun.

[Perhaps once she'd be unbearably jealous of all the attention Utena gets, and sometimes it does still nag at her, but Mami has adjusted to much over the years. This is no different.]

[action] from here on out!

[revolutionized]

No.

[An irritated huff. She attempts to dust away some of the glitter with a wave of her wand, but the motion only succeeds in getting the stuff everywhere all over again.

She tilts her head back to observe Mami.] Besides, it's just gonna end with a troll attack or Inferi or unicorns. It's not worth the trouble.

[headedforhope]

Hm....

[She meets the gaze with one of her own - calm, collected, yet fond. After a moment, Mami decides to take pity on Utena and gives her wand a flick.]

Scourgify.

[The glitter is siphoned off of Utena, the floor, the trunk and everywhere else. Mami continues talking as she works her magic to clean up the rest of the cluttered mess, sorting the cupids, chocolates and sundry other presents into places where they won't be stepped on.]

....I suppose I'll have to go myself, then, if you're not going to ask me.

[revolutionized]

Oh, thanks!

[Utena checks to see if there is any glitter left, seems satisfied, and then blinks up at Mami.] Huh? [Her eyebrows knit together.] D'you really want to go?

[headedforhope]

Like I said, it sounded like fun.

[She sends one of the cupids soaring into her other hand with a muttered accio to better examine it up close, her eyes trained on it rather than Utena, and adds with a certain carelessness too masterful to be genuine:]

Maybe one of my admirers will want to go....

[revolutionized]

[That makes Utena sit up, alert. She frowns. As much as she dislikes the notion of a ball, having Mami go with someone else is a far more unpleasant alternative.] What? No way.

[headedforhope]

[The outward shift of her attention from the cupid toy to Utena is deliberately slow, her eyebrows arched in an innocent confusion.]

No way?

[revolutionized]

[An irritated huff. Mami's apparent confusion doesn't fool her one bit, it seems.]

No way. Those guys are only interested in one thing.

[headedforhope]

[She considers that for a moment.

But only for a moment.]

Ah, I see.

[Mami switches gears, slowly turning away in feigned hurt. Her shoulders slump, the golden head bows.]

You think I'd actually give them that "one thing".....

[revolutionized]

[That does manage to fool her, if only slightly, and she tilts her head, frowning.]

Of course not. But I don't want you to be around the sort of guys with that stuff on their minds.

[headedforhope]

That's funny, considering how I'm a much better judge of character than you are.

[A pronounced sigh. Mami goes back to levitating the cupid this way and that, still not looking at Utena.]

They're guaranteed to at least ask, you know, especially if word gets around that you're too stubborn to go with me. Mm, probably even fall over themselves trying to scoop me up....I suppose I'll never be left alone.

[Her tone is carefully light, momentarily forsaking the masterfully faked wounded edge in favor of idle pondering.]

[revolutionized]

Are not. [The frown is veering dangerously close to a pout.] I'm not that bad at it.

[She crosses her arms, but her attention is, at least, fully focused on Mami.] You could tell them no, you know.

[headedforhope]

Laughably terrible.

[The cupid performs loop-de-loops and complex patterns in the air.]

If you really think that would dissuade them, you haven't met them. As long as they perceive me as "available"....

[revolutionized]

Hey. I am not.

[She watches the cupid for a bit.] But you aren't available. Just tell them that.

[headedforhope]

A "yes" from you right now would save me from having to say a hundred "no"s, that's all.

[Mami shifts, bringing an end to the "I am not looking at you" game by putting on her best doe-eyes. The cupid takes this moment to do a backwards swoop and lazily circle Utena's head.]

Please? I really do think that it would be fun, and we haven't done anything together like that in awhile.

[that face....]

[revolutionized]

[Oh, not the doe-eyes. Utena tries to ignore it, but the telltale signs of her crumbling resolve show in the slight furrowing of her brow and the way she bites her lip.

Finally:] ...All right. [And although she already knows the answer, she asks anyway:] Would you like to go to the ball with me?

[headedforhope]

[Triumphant, Mami's face lights up as if Utena's buckling came as a happy surprise.]

I'd love to.

[...still, cooperation, no matter how reluctant, should be rewarded. Mami sends the cupid rolling across the floor with a flick of her wand and leans over to press a kiss to Utena's cheek. Chaste, yet lingering.]

[revolutionized]

[Despite her best efforts to frown, a blissful, happy smile blooms at the kiss. She touches her cheek.]

Good. [A sweeping glance across the room.] Do you want to share some chocolates with me?

[headedforhope]

[She leans into the touch, eyebrows raising.]

Depends. Are there love potions in them? Or.... [annnd it's back to teasing again.] ....are you hoping for that?

[revolutionized]

No idea. [She scratches her head.] We could check 'em, and...

[And then what Mami is saying sinks in, and she looks flustered.] No. Love potions are kinda creepy, you know. And they wouldn't make you fall in love with me anyway. Whoever made the potion would be pretty mad I bet.

[headedforhope]

[Her nose wrinkles with distaste, even as she manages a laugh.]

Aha, good point. [A pause.] I'm glad you didn't just eat some without thinking about it. Talk about awkward, huh?

[Awkward....and a distasteful thought she'd rather not entertain any longer. Mami scoots off the bed and goes to better organize the trunk and so facilitate it into closing, setting aside one box of the aforementioned chocolates.]

[revolutionized]

Awkward's one way to put it. [Having grown tired of sitting on the floor, Utena climbs on the bed to wait for Mami.] I heard of a boy in sixth year who had a love potion by mistake. It took a whole two weeks for it to wear off, and the whole time he thought he was in love. It's odd. If you know someone's not in love with you, what's the point of a potion? It doesn't make it real.

[headedforhope]

[Her hands move with their usual grace, as if existing on a separate level of consciousness from the rest of her - they manage to rearrange the jumbled mess into something presentable, even as her response rolls smoothly off her tongue.]

What you're saying is true, of course, and yet you're missing the point: the feelings don't have to be genuine on the other person's part. The ones who ply the potion....they just want the object of their affections to notice them and treat them as they've always desired.

It's not odd so much as it is selfish. [She states this coolly, almost callously, yet with not a small twinge of guilt.] They're manipulating the other person's behavior to suit themselves.

[And Mami herself is no stranger to such underhanded tactics, if ones that used words rather than magical elixirs.]

[revolutionized]

It is selfish. [Her eyes darken; her frown deepens.] It's terrible to take advantage of someone else like that.

[It is something, of course, that Utena could never imagine doing. That desperate and obsessive desire to be loved...she, with all of her admirers and lavish gifts, could never really understand an emotion like that, or the depths to which it went.] Even if it's just for a little while, there's no excuse for it.

[headedforhope]

Terrible, but not unsurprising.

[She finally manages to shut the trunk, and glances up at Utena. Mami wonders if she'd do the same thing that a person like that might, if Utena wasn't hers - if the other girl hadn't even been her friend since childhood, if she was all alone and had always been. It's a small relief to come to the slow, yet true realization that she wouldn't; Mami is a liar, she knows how to coerce and deceive, but even she has depths to which she could never imagine sinking. Still, Mami understands that sort of need. That deep ache, the relentless desire to be noticed and liked by the object of one's affections. She can feel a ghost of that feeling stir within her whenever one of Utena's admirers get a little too bold, or when the two of them haven't managed to share some alone time in a long while.

Her task done, Mami gets up to sit on the bed with Utena.]

Desperation can be quite powerful, after all.

[cleretic]

[Alma is more amused than annoyed by the mess in their room, tbh. ooh miss utena ooh~]

As popular as ever, I see~ [She giggles.] Attendance is not mandatory, of course, but... are you sure you don't want to?

[revolutionized]

[And she will leave her revolution on.]

Yeah, unfortunately. D'you want any of these chocolates? I should check 'em for love potions, but I think they're okay. [And she shakes her head.] I'd rather stay in my dorm. Are you going?