"10,000 Pokédollars in cash, a Roost Technical Machine, and a flight certificate." Connie smirks. "Even if the Gym Challenge wasn't an amazing journey of personal growth and self-discovery that you take while hiking across beautiful wilderness, the payout is good enough to entice most people into at least trying it."
When they reach the malt shop, Connie looks just a single push away from squeeing. "Oh my gosh this place is so cute c'mon!" She speedwalks inside, marveling at the quaintness of the establishment before collecting herself and sitting down at a table.
It really is. Akane can imagine Ranma in girl form coming in for a chocolate sundae and winces at the sudden feeling of loss.
She wonders if he's trying to find this world. She wonders if he'll ever be able to.
If he can't ever reach this world, if she never goes back... will he give up eventually? Marry Ukyou and be very happy together?
She shakes her head. No. She's not going to think about that now. She's going to enjoy a nice ice cream dessert with her new best friend. Akane follows Connie inside and grabs a menu.
Meanwhile, Connie is grappling with an entirely different personal crisis as she sits across from Akane, hiding her face with the menu.
How in the blazes was she going to make this sound not. Weird? Especially to Akane of all people? Connie spends a solid thirty seconds contemplating angles of attack with a furrowed brow before she realizes she's overthinking it and trying to come up with some elaborate plan will inevitably make things worse. (Under the Knife's romcom subplot contains a surprising amount of life lessons.)
Connie says something about them going on a date and for a moment, Akane just. Freezes. Does she... but girls can't... oh no does Connie think she's some kind of pervert?
Akane starts to bristle with anger at the hurt she feels at her best friend thinking she's a pervert-- and then Connie starts yelling about how it's a friend thing and Akane just. Relaxes.
"... you can do that?" she asks, frowning a little anyway. Unsure why part of her is slightly sad at the correction.
The part of Connie that isn't mentally flailing notes Akane's initial reaction to her proposal and archives it for future reference for when the Conversation eventually happens.
Connie is likewise slightly disappointed behind a few layers of mental partitioning, but this is no time to process that.
"I know it's kind of a weird request, but..." Connie sighs, dragging her hands down her face. "Literally all of my friends here are taking somebody to prom, and I just don't want to feel left out, I guess? Greg's got Rose, Carly's got Jolyne, Steven and Jack have each other.... It sounds kind of stupid when I say it out loud, haha."
It's a wonder what rigorous battling can do to a girl's verbal filter.
Edited 2020-04-12 05:17 (UTC)
gonna assume connie told her that steven u went home
"Prom's an American high school thing, right?" Akane says after a moment. "I didn't-- they have American high school here? Should we be going to it?" A moment of trepidation passes over her face. "Should we be worried about being forced to get bowlcuts?"
Akane, your hair is practically in a bowlcut anyway.
"Wait, Steven? I thought you said he got sent home?"
Akane was like a puppy in some ways: adorable, endearing, and so, so dumb sometimes.
"I-" Deep breath, Connie. Break down all of the things wrong here one by one. "Prom's a synonym for a fancy dance; it's most commonly associated with American high schools, but it's used in other contexts too. I don't know about high school dress codes, but as far as I'm aware, as long as we're on our Gym Challenge people won't bother us about going to school.
"I know two, technically three but the last one goes by Steve and I don't particularly like him, Stevens: Steven Universe and Steven Durante. Steven Universe was my best friend back home, Steven Durante is sort of like my uncle here.
The sad thing is that she's not the stupidest person from back home by far. She's just-- generally oblivious when it comes to certain subjects.
"Okay," Akane says. "Good. I mean, back home we wouldn't be forced to go to high school either--compulsory education's only through the end of junior high--but I wasn't sure how it works in Johto. And I'm glad it's not... American high school. Our principle went to America--well, Hawaii--for a couple years and he came back with some really weird ideas on how to run a school. Mandatory haircut ways."
She affects a really terrible island accent, "'All da wahines gotta get bowlcuts, all da keiki's gotta get buzzcuts.'" Then back to her regular voice, "He tried to teach me to swim once. It didn't really work.
"So how is he your uncle? Is Jack your aunt?" She assumes that Jack is a gender neutral name in English.
"...yeah, that was. Definitely your principal's problem, not the American school system's. Don't know what was going on there."
That sounded like a whole mess and a half that Connie really didn't want to think about, honestly.
Then Akane asks about Jack, and Connie just. Stares for a moment. Before starting to laugh her ass off. "OH MY- YEAH! YEAH, I GUESS FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW THAT'S TRUE! HOLD ON, I JUST GOTTA-" Connie whips out her Pokégear and change's Jack's contact information from "Boss" to "Auntie Jack."
Wiping a few laughter-induced tears away, Connie gets control of herself again. "Nah, it's more like... I started working at Jack's agency basically as soon as I arrived. Everybody there has kind of become like a second family to me, you know? I love Mom and Dad and the Gems and Steven back home, but... the people at Jack's agency really ground me in reality. Help remind me that this place is real, if that makes any sense."
Honestly, nobody should have to think about Principal Kuno if they don't have to.
"It does," Akane says. "That sounds... nice, actually. That you've got people here you care that much about and that care that much about you. I think I envy you, a little."
Not that Connie isn't wonderful and not that she doesn't know Connie cares about her--but that's different than a whole surrogate family.
"Do you think they'll like me?" she asks. For reasons she's not entirely comfortable probing, Akane wants Connie's second family to like her.
"Yeah, all of the ones I'm really close to will be there! I can't wait for you to meet them."
Connie just stares at Akane for a few moments, taking in her smile (it never stops being beautiful) before realizing they've gotten horrendously off-track. "Soooo, are you down for the friend-date or not?"
"I can't wait to too!" Akane assures her. "And yes. Sure. You're my best friend, after all. Who else would I go with?
"I'll go as the boy," she adds, feeling very generous to Connie. "I mean, not really as a boy, but someone will have to lead when we dance and I always had to do that part when we did country dances in gym class anyway."
Every time a conversation with Akane swerves towards this territory, Connie's always offput but how... eighties' Akane's outlook is. On a logical level Connie knows not to expect too much in the way of complex analysis of the roles of gender and sexuality in everyday life out a Japanese high-schooler from three decades ago, but it's still jarring.
"Akane, we can both just go as us, you know. Just two gals being pals on a night out," she says completely unironically. "Speaking of, do you want a suit or a dress? I already have my outfit picked out, so maybe we can coordinate?"
the outfit is from the doco 2nd album cover, ranma's commentary is something i made up
Akane opens her mouth, so sure that she's going to say 'a dress' but what comes out instead is, "Is there any way to have both? Not--like a women's business suit," she says. "But. I don't know. I had this outfit back home that was a lot like a man's suit on top, but the bottom half was a miniskirt and I-- I kinda think I looked really good that way?" (Even Ranma had thought she looked good. Well, 'almost halfway cute for a tomboy' which was high praise from Ranma when it came to her.)
"One of my friends went to her wedding dressed in something like that, so it should be perfectly fine. I can already tell you're going to absolutely rock that outfit."
Granted, Ruby and Sapphire had been wearing a dress and a tux respectively before Garnet fused, but, y'know. Same diff.
Akane's face heats up even more. She knows that some people think she's pretty. That was part of why she'd had to fight so many boys every morning, after all. But it feels different when Connie says it.
"I'm glad I'm going with you," she says. "I really am."
"Me too." Connie reaches under the table to hold Akane's hand, but hesitates at the last moment. Is that too personal? Is she getting too close? None of her weeb knowledge is helping her here! "I haven't felt this close with... anybody in a long time. Even my family here, they- well. It's different when you're with somebody your own age." Despite being separated by four decades.
"So thanks for being m-" No. Friend wasn't the right word, not quite. Maybe? "Thanks for being here, with me. Having somebody like you in my corner after so long... it means a lot. Really."
Words are normally Connie's strong suit, but not today.
The nice thing about them both being girls is that it's okay to hold hands. It doesnt mean what it would if Connie were a boy. After a moment, when she realizes that Connie's not going to take her hand, Akane takes Connie's instead.
"It does," Akane says, softly. "I've got friends at school, but they don't really understand a lot of the most important things in my life. So they just-- can't always be there for me like this. Before I found out about Ranma being a boy, I'd wanted him to be that person, but." She shakes her head. "And I might be friendly sometimes with his other fiancees, but we can't be real friends, not with him between us."
Akane. You do remember you haven't told Connie about your engagement, right?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sorry for subpar prose my brain is all over the place today x_x
When they reach the malt shop, Connie looks just a single push away from squeeing. "Oh my gosh this place is so cute c'mon!" She speedwalks inside, marveling at the quaintness of the establishment before collecting herself and sitting down at a table.
don't worry!
She wonders if he's trying to find this world. She wonders if he'll ever be able to.
If he can't ever reach this world, if she never goes back... will he give up eventually? Marry Ukyou and be very happy together?
She shakes her head. No. She's not going to think about that now. She's going to enjoy a nice ice cream dessert with her new best friend. Akane follows Connie inside and grabs a menu.
1/2
How in the blazes was she going to make this sound not. Weird? Especially to Akane of all people? Connie spends a solid thirty seconds contemplating angles of attack with a furrowed brow before she realizes she's overthinking it and trying to come up with some elaborate plan will inevitably make things worse. (Under the Knife's romcom subplot contains a surprising amount of life lessons.)
So she takes a deep breath and asks,
"Akane, will you be my date to the prom?"
2/2
Connie realizes that she forgot to clarify something extremely important.
"OH MY STARS AS A FRIEND THIS IS STRICTLY A FRIEND THING I WOULD LIKE TO CLARIFY THAT"
here lies connie the fool,
Re: 2/2
Akane starts to bristle with anger at the hurt she feels at her best friend thinking she's a pervert-- and then Connie starts yelling about how it's a friend thing and Akane just. Relaxes.
"... you can do that?" she asks, frowning a little anyway.
Unsure why part of her is slightly sad at the correction.no subject
Connie is likewise slightly disappointed behind a few layers of mental partitioning, but this is no time to process that."I know it's kind of a weird request, but..." Connie sighs, dragging her hands down her face. "Literally all of my friends here are taking somebody to prom, and I just don't want to feel left out, I guess? Greg's got Rose, Carly's got Jolyne, Steven and Jack have each other.... It sounds kind of stupid when I say it out loud, haha."
It's a wonder what rigorous battling can do to a girl's verbal filter.
gonna assume connie told her that steven u went home
Akane, your hair is practically in a bowlcut anyway.
"Wait, Steven? I thought you said he got sent home?"
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"I-" Deep breath, Connie. Break down all of the things wrong here one by one. "Prom's a synonym for a fancy dance; it's most commonly associated with American high schools, but it's used in other contexts too. I don't know about high school dress codes, but as far as I'm aware, as long as we're on our Gym Challenge people won't bother us about going to school.
"I know two, technically three but the last one goes by Steve and I don't particularly like him, Stevens: Steven Universe and Steven Durante. Steven Universe was my best friend back home, Steven Durante is sort of like my uncle here.
"Any other questions?"
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"Okay," Akane says. "Good. I mean, back home we wouldn't be forced to go to high school either--compulsory education's only through the end of junior high--but I wasn't sure how it works in Johto. And I'm glad it's not... American high school. Our principle went to America--well, Hawaii--for a couple years and he came back with some really weird ideas on how to run a school. Mandatory haircut ways."
She affects a really terrible island accent, "'All da wahines gotta get bowlcuts, all da keiki's gotta get buzzcuts.'" Then back to her regular voice, "He tried to teach me to swim once. It didn't really work.
"So how is he your uncle? Is Jack your aunt?" She assumes that Jack is a gender neutral name in English.
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That sounded like a whole mess and a half that Connie really didn't want to think about, honestly.
Then Akane asks about Jack, and Connie just. Stares for a moment. Before starting to laugh her ass off. "OH MY- YEAH! YEAH, I GUESS FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW THAT'S TRUE! HOLD ON, I JUST GOTTA-" Connie whips out her Pokégear and change's Jack's contact information from "Boss" to "Auntie Jack."
Wiping a few laughter-induced tears away, Connie gets control of herself again. "Nah, it's more like... I started working at Jack's agency basically as soon as I arrived. Everybody there has kind of become like a second family to me, you know? I love Mom and Dad and the Gems and Steven back home, but... the people at Jack's agency really ground me in reality. Help remind me that this place is real, if that makes any sense."
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"It does," Akane says. "That sounds... nice, actually. That you've got people here you care that much about and that care that much about you. I think I envy you, a little."
Not that Connie isn't wonderful and not that she doesn't know Connie cares about her--but that's different than a whole surrogate family.
"Do you think they'll like me?" she asks. For reasons she's not entirely comfortable probing, Akane wants Connie's second family to like her.
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If only Akane knew.
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Sssshhhh. Akane's not actually a criminal just because she and her friends do regular property damage around town.
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Connie just stares at Akane for a few moments, taking in her smile (it never stops being beautiful) before realizing they've gotten horrendously off-track. "Soooo, are you down for the friend-date or not?"
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"I'll go as the boy," she adds, feeling very generous to Connie. "I mean, not really as a boy, but someone will have to lead when we dance and I always had to do that part when we did country dances in gym class anyway."
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"Akane, we can both just go as us, you know. Just two gals being pals on a night out," she says completely unironically. "Speaking of, do you want a suit or a dress? I already have my outfit picked out, so maybe we can coordinate?"
the outfit is from the doco 2nd album cover, ranma's commentary is something i made up
"So. You know. If I can do that?"
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Granted, Ruby and Sapphire had been wearing a dress and a tux respectively before Garnet fused, but, y'know. Same diff.
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SOMETIMES I REALLY HATE THESE TWO, YOU KNOW.
Re: SOMETIMES I REALLY HATE THESE TWO, YOU KNOW.
"I'm glad I'm going with you," she says. "I really am."
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"So thanks for being m-" No. Friend wasn't the right word, not quite. Maybe? "Thanks for being here, with me. Having somebody like you in my corner after so long... it means a lot. Really."
Words are normally Connie's strong suit, but not today.
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"It does," Akane says, softly. "I've got friends at school, but they don't really understand a lot of the most important things in my life. So they just-- can't always be there for me like this. Before I found out about Ranma being a boy, I'd wanted him to be that person, but." She shakes her head. "And I might be friendly sometimes with his other fiancees, but we can't be real friends, not with him between us."
Akane. You do remember you haven't told Connie about your engagement, right?
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FINAL MANGA VOLUME SPOILERS
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wrap?
wrap~