tenipuri_xp | RP Log: Rin & Ryoma

Date: This afternoon (Sunday 3/12)
Rating: Language, but otherwise G
Summary: Ryoma goes to pick up some books and runs into Rin in the park; when Ryoma's shields fail and he has to stay until they return, the two have a chat. Courier font = English

Also, we need a tag for Rin, please~ <3

Such a rare thing, he had a day off. Like, really off. No school, no work, no errands to run… bliss. Which was why Rin was at the moment hanging out in the park. Enjoying the nice, winter weather. Lazy was the key word for today~! Skipping slightly, the blonde made his way through the park, taking in his surroundings. Curious being that he liked watching people… nature… and everything around. Some of the observations he later could use in his projects for classes. That thought reminded him that he already had finished all assignments he had for the week.

With a small smile playing on his lips, Rin noted some interesting creature walking by. Black hair… with a while patch? The hell? And it surely looked natural, not dyed. From school he knew that when something like that happened, it was some sort of an illness, when a person lacked in … well, something. He was never good with biology.

He knew well his stare could be unnerving, but he couldn't help himself.

Ryoma was cutting through the park on his way back from the bookstore, bag in hand, when he felt a relatively powerful mutant spike above the background noise. They were headed his way, he realized, and narrowed his eyes, looking around for who it might be. It wasn't anyone he'd synched before...

The answer came soon enough, in the form of a pale, blonde boy skipping - skipping? - through the park; he slowed to a regular walk as he spotted Ryoma, though. He didn't look dangerous - though that wasn't the way one wanted to judge mutants, Ryoma'd learned - but he figured if the other mutant would just let him be, he'd do the same. It wasn’t like everyone had radar like he did.

As the blonde neared him, however, Ryoma couldn't help but notice he was staring, and pretty blatantly. Now what? He traced the other's gaze, realizing it was fixed on... his hair? He sighed. Damn. He was going to have to dye it or something. At least until it grew back in. If it grew in black. Which it had damn well better.

"Staring's rude, you know," he said, pausing to fix the strange blonde mutant with a look of his own. "Never seen white hair before?"

Rin raised an eyebrow, amused and paused as well, "Never seen naturally white hair before~," Though he wasn't probably one to speak, as he was naturally blond himself, but with him it was just that his mother was a foreigner, and apparently someone in his father's family had to be a foreigner as well for his hair colour to happen.

"Right. Well now you have." Ryoma just kept eyeing the stranger, noting his uncommon (well, for Japan at least) hair color as well. "So what about you, then? You a foreigner?" Unless this guy dyed his hair, he most likely was. Or at least had foreign blood. He didn't carry himself like a "proper" Japanese person, at least, though his command of the language was just fine.

He shifted the books to his other arm, wondering if this guy knew he was a mutant. It was something he always wondered when he felt people who were particularly strong. But it wasn't exactly something he could ask, at least without giving himself away.

The blonde would surely be interested in how a "proper" Japanese person carried themselves, though his behaviour probably came up with how he was brought up by his mother. It would be said the same about his sister. An amused smile still on his face, Rin answered, "Mom is~ so I'm a half~," He didn't mind that, even though he knew many Japanese would be offended if they were asked such question. Which… in his humble opinion was simply stupid. That probably also came from the bringing up.

Though… that was interesting, Rin was standing in the middle of a park, talking to a total stranger.

"Oh." Ryoma shrugged - made sense, he guessed - and figured he was kind of in the same boat, only his mother was Japanese-American, so he still looked fully Japanese. Well. Except for the stupid patch of white hair that apparently made complete strangers stare.

He was about to say something else when it happened - the shields flickered as his link to Hanamura suddenly grew tenuous and started to fizzle out. He barely had time to wonder why before he realized his shields were failing. And they were going to disappear in a few seconds. Shit - Ryoma frowned, taking a step back - he didn't know what kind of power this person possessed, just that it was stronger than the average latent mutant, and he did not want any more explosions –

In a moment the other boy tensed up, as if expecting something bad to happen. He looked quite confused too, and Rin had no idea what caused all of that. He was not going to attack the other or anything, neither could you see his mutation. Sure, it was physical, but nothing flashy. With a raised eyebrow, he asked, "Hey, what's wrong?"

Ryoma took another step back, but there was nothing he could do - the shields were going to fail, and he wasn't good enough yet at turning his powers off to do it on the spot (and even if he had been, he couldn't do it for much more than half a minute at a time, yet). But then the shields failed altogether, and he braced himself for the onslaught of the other's powers -

And blinked. And winced. And resisted the urge to clap his hands to his ears to drown out the noise, squinting in the bright sunlight. The world was suddenly sharper - it didn't take a genius to realize that all five of his senses had been augmented, and considerably. He could hear people he'd passed three minutes ago down the path; his eyes wanted to focus on the most minute detail, like they had when he'd synched Shishido; he could smell and taste things in the air that he hadn't imagined were there. Skin prickling uncomfortably, Ryoma closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath (despite the strange smells and tastes), trying to turn it down. Even a little would do...

Rin could only stare at the stranger's weird behaviour. Suddenly he didn't look all that well… Seriously, he’d better not pass out here, the blonde wasn't the best at taking care of people. Hmm… or maybe he had some mental disorder? Could be as well possible. Well then, why the hell was he still standing there? Right, because Rin was staring and that's why they started talking.

Apparently the boy didn't hear him the first time, so the 18-year-old tried again, "Oii, are you alright?"

Ryoma flinched as the other spoke - it sounded so loud - and ignored him, resuming his attempts to tune things out to the point where he could hear himself think again. It was just like Fuji's power, he told himself - tune out the unnecessary, until you were left with only what you wanted...

There. Ryoma took a breath, and was relieved to note that the tastes and smells had muted considerably, even if they were still there. Opening his eyes, he also noted that the blonde stranger was staring at him like he'd just had an epileptic fit. Oh, just great. "Damn," he muttered, wondering if he should just ask the other how he dealt with this on a day-to-day basis. "How d'you hear yourself think?" Either the other would understand, or he'd think Ryoma was crazy. Either way, it wasn't like Ryoma cared.

And now that he could think again, it felt like the senses weren't all there was to this...

Taken aback, Rin was silent for few moments. What was the other talking about? And… if he was talking about what the blonde was thinking, how did he find out? Surprise was clear on his expression and in his voice, and he felt himself answering, "Normally…" In all honesty, Rin couldn't remember the times when his senses were 'normal', perhaps he was born with it… and body gets used to things surprisingly quickly. So it never was a problem for the blond mutant. "It's not like I can compare…" And just what the fuck was he talking about?

"Yeah, well, geez. It's loud." Ryoma blinked a few more times, until he finally thought he had the hang of keeping things suppressed, and eyed the other boy. He sighed. At least the other wasn't accusing him of something crazy; Ryoma glanced around, spotting a bench nearby and sunk down onto it, closing his eyes and leaning against the sun-warmed back, trying to ignore the way the tiny splinters felt like they were digging into his back.

"You from around here?" he called over to the other boy - he had to admit, he was curious. He didn't act like he was Brotherhood, but he definitely wasn't Ryuhana. Maybe neither school had approached him yet.

Walking up to the bench as well, Rin only shrugged before plopping down on it as well. He slouched low, so his head was resting against the backrest, long legs stretched before him. With a glance at the other, he asked a question of his own, "And how do you know it?" It was strange, really… this whole meeting and this talk especially.

"Yeah, my apartment is nearby," the blonde finally answered to the question, watching random passers-by. A flat near a park was not as desired in Japan as it was in western countries, so usually they were quite cheap. But as Rin was far from being a typical Japanese, he considered himself lucky to have that flat. Whenever he could he came there, to think… or to do assignments he could do outside and not on a computer.

"We're the same," Ryoma said, glancing at the other as he sat down beside him. "More'n you think, right now." He didn't particularly feel like saying more than that; but he guessed if the stranger asked, he'd tell him. It wasn't like he was trying to hide it (why bother, from a fellow mutant, for whom Ryoma was literally an even match right now?) but he also didn't feel the need to broadcast his power unless someone really needed to know.

Hearing the other had an apartment near here was interesting, too - so he wasn't affiliated with the Brotherhood either? Or at least not outright. Ryoma figured he couldn't go back to school like this - not without any shielding at all - so he was pretty much stuck here for now. They might as well talk. "So what's your name?"

Rin decided to not question further, figuring the other would talk if he felt the need to. And the blonde didn't feel the need to know, not yet anyway. "If you say so~,"

"Hirakoba Rin," he answered simply, adding after a second, "But call me Rin." Unfortunately the 18-year-old had quite strong dislike towards his family name, and the way the Japanese tended to call you that, instead of the given name. Raising an eyebrow, "You?"

Well, the name was definitely Japanese. His father must be the Japanese one, then. Ryoma was fine with calling the other Rin, then - easier to say, at least. It sounded like maybe he should know it, from somewhere, but he was pretty sure he didn't. "Echizen Ryoma," he replied, shifting his feet, scraping little ruts in the dirt where maybe a few months ago, he could've swung his feet. It felt strange like this, even through the soles of his shoes.

Upon hearing the name, Rin's lips curled up into a wide grin. Now, isn't this funny? "Ryoga's brother, ah~?" The blonde chuckled in amusement. "That explains everything~, you borrow other mutants' powers, if I remember correctly~." He wondered for a second if the brothers were similar, he and his sister weren't in a least, but to know that, he'd have to meet the older sibling, and seeing from Ryoga's personality… that won't happen any soon. Not like Rin cared, he was just curious.

Ryoma blinked. "You know Ryoga?" Wait a second... "You're the guy I talked to before," he said; he'd kind of spoken with Rin before, via comments. He'd just never asked for the other's name. So he was affiliated with the Brotherhood - only loosely. Rin had seemed about as dedicated to their cause as Ryoga; which was to say, not much at all.

He draped elbows over the back of the bench, watching his feet a moment. "Yeah, I borrow powers, an' you only mentioned the healing before. Not the senses. Guess you must be used to 'em."

Rin nodded his head, staring now at the sky. Such a pretty shade of blue, he wondered whether he could get such a colour on his laptop… if he ever needed it. "You could say that~, though I guess know is a bit too big word. Just met him~ and not personally yet. And yes, that's me~."

Thinking a bit on his senses again, the blonde answered slowly, "I know I see, hear and all that more than others, but it doesn't bother me. I mean~ you could compare the noise to your normal hearing, I was always like that~," he paused for a moment, before concluding, "I guess I just don't think about them."

Ryoma nodded - well, if this guy didn't live in the dorms at the Brotherhood like his brother did, then it made sense that the two hadn’t met. Maybe the Brotherhood was the same to Rin as it seemed to be to his brother - a place to mooch from, nothing more. At least he hadn't seemed overly zealous over comments, like some of the students there did, nor did he seem that way now.

And about the senses; "Well, f'you could remember what it was like before, you'd notice." If there had ever been a before. Some mutants were born with their mutation, though most of them developed their powers later, during puberty. "S'long as it doesn't bother you." Ryoma shrugged. "Not plannin' on being synched to you for a long time. I c'n turn 'em down in the meantime." But then there was this other matter... "Feel faster too, though." It was a significant change, after having spent the better part of a month synched to Niou's sluggish metabolism; he’d gotten very used to that.

The 18-year-old felt no sense of obligation towards Brotherhood, if he was given another option he'd willingly think it over and pick something that agreed with him the most. But at the moment, he knew only of Brotherhood, well… now also of Ryuhana, but as long as the other school made no contact with him… then he didn't care. He liked his life as it was, and couldn't care less if he belonged to some organization or not.

At Ryoma's last statement, Rin chuckled, "Yes, and you should feel healthier too. Never get sick~. But that's as much as I know."

Ryoma nodded. "Something like that. Not getting sick must be nice, though." As opposed to Niou, who got sick for weeks on end because his immune system functioned like his metabolism: slowly.

Ryoma was definitely glad that was all there was to it, though. "That's about it for you, though. Feels like just the senses and the stamina. Could be worse." Nothing crazy or hidden; something like this would probably wear off as soon as his shields came back up. Which they hadn't yet, he thought, frowning. What the hell was Hanamura doing? Playing some kind of game? He’d only just gotten back to school, and the shields had felt like such a relief.

"You don't hafta stick around f'you don't want to, though," Ryoma said, though he figured the other was probably one to get up and leave if he didn't want to be where he was.” I just can't go back to school like this."

"Good to know~, I don't think it I'd like such a surprise." Like something growing out of your back, or anything of this kind. No, thank you very much. "Well, healing is nice too~, would have been much nicer if not for the pain." Rin sighed at that. Pain… well, it wasn't worse pain than for any average person out there, but still, if his body could heal this quickly why couldn't it also be immune to pain, damn it. "But you can't have everything, I guess~."

"It's fine, that's what I came here for anyway," the blonde said finally, letting his eyes fall closed. "By the way, is your brother always such an ass?"

"Guess you can't," Ryoma said, a hint of a wry grin crossing his lips. A lot of people thought his power was nice, for instance - until he explained that he couldn't really turn it off or pick what things he wanted to synch. Synching a roomful of people was not really on his top ten list of pleasant things. So apparently it was the same with Rin's - healing was nice, but pain wasn't. Mutant powers weren't something that made you a god, like people (mutants and normal alike) seemed to think. They just gave you a different set of strengths and weaknesses.

"My brother?" he asked, glancing over at the blonde, who was leaning back with his eyes closed. "Heh, yeah, something like that." Ryoma shrugged, even if the other couldn't see it. Ryoga wasn't always that bad, but he could be annoying in his own right. Like when he'd tailed Ryoma over every square centimeter of the house during Christmas break. "Could be worse - like our dad." Compared to Nanjiroh, Ryoga could be a saint. Sometimes.

Rin laughed out loud, yet once again he heard that the father of the siblings was so bad. "Who I don't want to meet then~, if you both say he's that bad." He ran a hand through his hair, brushing the bangs away from his face. His mother told him to cut his hair short, long hair didn't fit boys. And she straight out told him he looked like a girl. If she expected Rin to feel bad about it, then she was completely wrong… he enjoyed it quite much. It made some things easier… sometimes.

His thoughts wandered then to the books the Ryoma was carrying, "What are these books~?"

Oh? So apparently Ryoga had complained about Nanjiroh too - well, Ryoma couldn't say he was particularly surprised. He wasn't blind - he noticed the look in Ryoga's eyes whenever he looked at their father. It was a tough call, but it might be safe to say that Ryoga liked Nanjiroh even less than Ryoma did. "No. You don't."

He followed Rin's gaze the bag of books he was carting back. "Nothing much." He hauled the bag onto his lap so Rin could see. "One's a textbook, since I miss a lotta class. Rest's just for reading." The English section in the bookstore was still dismally bare, but he'd found two books that looked at least decently interesting.

... Actually. "You speak English, don't you?" Ryoma knew Rin could type well in it, at least. Maybe he knew of a decent bookstore around here.

The older mutant eyed the titles, hmm… he read all, except for the textbook, he never had such. These were… well, not the best ones out there, but entertaining enough. The question though, made his smile widen, "You can say so~" he started in fluent English, his accent just a tad bit off from not using the spoken language for such long periods of time, "Mom can't speak proper Japanese, she taught us~."

Ryoma nodded - not bad. Rin almost sounded like a native speaker; just a little bit of an accent. "You know of any good bookstores then?" he asked in kind. "The English sections in all the stores I've been to suck." Sure, he could read novels in Japanese - and he did, too. But reading in English was easier - when he could find decent books to read.

Hm~, Rin bit his lower lip, thinking. "Well, there is one~, kinda small and hard to spot, but run by a couple of foreigners, they have almost everything in English." He paused, thinking on how one could get there from here. Unfortunately it was on one of the smaller streets… one of the unnamed ones, so the blonde couldn't just give Ryoma the address.

"I'd have to show you the way, it's kinda hard to explain." One of advantages working in the pub, you got to meet interesting people sometimes. That's how he found out about the bookstore, the pair frequented the club quite often.

"Huh. Guess you'll have to show me sometime." Just not today - well, aside from the obvious, Ryoma did need to be heading back before it got too late. But it was nice to know there was someplace in town he could find decent books in English. Even though he lived in the Tokyo area, his house was a decent drive from here, and he hadn't always gotten out much."Or my brother - f'you show him he'll show me." Ryoma craned his head back, looking up at the afternoon sky (blinding though it was, if he wasn't concentrating properly).

The blonde nodded his head at that, "Sure~, but let me know quite eh~ sooner, I don't always have the time." Days like today were all too rare. But if he wanted to finish the university with top marks and have money for some extra expenses, he had to study and work. So, Rin wouldn't complain.

"I understand that one," Ryoma agreed - he wasn't always free himself, with classes and training filling up his schedule pretty completely sometimes. And when he wasn't doing that, he had a feeling he’d be busy trying to get his stupid power to stay off. Weekends were too few and far between, in his opinion -

He winced, suddenly, as Hanamura's power flared up again in the back of his head; then he blinked, testing it cautiously, wondering if it was really back. After a few seconds of careful prodding, he realized it was, for sure - he wove the telepathic shields back around himself, feeling the effects of Rin's powers deaden and finally disappear as he erected the barrier between his power and Rin's.

With a sigh of relief, he stood from the bench, taking his bag in one hand. "Got my shields back," he said, switching back to Japanese, looking down at the other boy. "I gotta get back to school now."

Closing his eyes Rin nodded again. "Yeah, yeah~. See ya~," he said, smiling. The blonde was going to use this day to the fullest. For now resting a bit more in the park, later he was supposed to meet with a group of friends for movies. Hmm~, good day, good day.

As an after thought, he called after Ryoma, "Don't tell your brother you have met me~." It wasn't that Rin was afraid, but he'd rather not have that <3.

Ryoma gave a noncommittal wave in Rin's direction as he departed; he should be able to make it back to school before dusk even began to set in.

He heard Rin call something after him and turned, shrugging. Rin didn't want Ryoga to know his brother had met him? Well fine, whatever. "Yeah, sure. Seeya around." And with that, he hoisted his bag over his shoulder and headed for Ryuhana.