The Love Spot Has Been Activated!

[tohko_amano]

Characters: Tohko Amano and you for the first two prompts, the third is closed to Tohko and Diarmuid.
Setting: Floor fifteen, the cafeteria, and then dorm room 04-16. Occurs on the twelfth.
Format: I'm starting in prose, but I'll match you!
Summary: After getting mercy murdered, Tohko tries to calm down and deal with some feelings..while also dealing with being affected by Diarmuid's love spot.
Warnings: Will be updated as things pop up.

As Tohko entered the fifteenth floor, she sighed to herself as she thought about what had happened the past few days. Ganon had cursed her, Lancer had killed her to get her feet back to normal..and..somehow, she had fallen in love with Diarmuid.

She knew about Diarmuid's curse. After all, she was a book girl, and while the love spot was in a different spot than she was expecting it, it was there nonetheless. So, any feelings of love she might have could be fake. Plus..she had liked Enoch awhile back. It was weird to start thinking about another guy so suddenly after being rejected by the first, wasn't it?

..But, maybe it wasn't. And, even if it was, Tohko's whole life could be called strange, sot that probably didn't matter. All that mattered was how Diarmuid would take it, and if she could even tell him at all. After all, having a curse like that hurt him, and it would be hard for him to accept anyone else into his heart while knowing about that curse.

Perhaps..she would give him one small test to see if it would be safe to tell him. After all, one couldn't ask someone to love them without that person knowing what they were loving.

Such is what Tohko thought about as she started hammering two boxes together. Feel free to bother her as she works and break her out of that train of thought!

After she finished hammering together the two boxes, Tohko carried them down to the cafeteria and smiled to herself as she put napkins on the bottom of each one and filled them with chocolates. This was where she and Diarmuid had their cooking lesson, and where she had fallen in love with him. Or maybe it was when he saved her from the mermaids. It was a string of small things that made her love him.

Or so she thought. Sadly, she was just affected by Diarmuid's curse, but she had no way of knowing that. Feel free to bother her as she fills up her boxes.

After loading up the two boxes and putting a note in one, Tohko headed off for dorm room 4-16. Politely, she knocked on the door.

"Diarmuid? Lancer? Are either of you in?"

Comments

[oathshackledbird]

[When the knock sounds through the room, Diarmuid starts awake having dozed off in bed. His hand stretches out connecting with the sketchbook that fell to his side when he fell asleep, and he has to scramble to catch it before it falls off the bed.

It's a good thing he's so agile. Even so, it's not exactly the most graceful move and he's glad no one is there to see him.

The knock rings out again and he calls out...]

Just a moment!

[...before getting up and setting the sketchbook and pencil on the nightstand. As part of the effort to force himself to rest, he's been wearing the more casual clothes that had been in his trunk instead of his armor. Now, granted, he can still materialize his armor at anytime, but now that the clothes are a little more familiar to him, he actually finds them kind of relaxing especially when he forgoes the belt, shoes, and socks and leaves the shirt untucked.

It's in this state of dress--untucked white dress shirt and black pants. no familiar green armor to be seen--that Diarmuid answers the door, his face still a little unfocused after being startled awake from his nap.]

Hey, Tohko come in! Sorry for the wait. I kind of dozed off for a bit. What can I do for you?

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko could tell that Diarmuid was still a little drowsy, but walked in when Diarmuid beckoned her in. As she did so, she used her free hand to scratch her head.]

Oh, it's alright! Don't worry about it! I'm sorry that I woke you up..I just finished getting these together, so I wanted to bring them over for you and Lancer.

[Smiling, she lightly tapped on the boxes she was holding.]

Here you are! I know it's early, but happy Valentines Day! The bottom one is for Lancer, and the top one is for you.

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid smiles at her gently. It's obvious she had put a lot of work into her gifts.]

Thank you! You didn't need to do that for us. My roommate most likely won't be back for a while though. He doesn't spend a lot of time here. We can leave it on his bed or the nightstand if you want. I'm sure he will find it then.

[His smile fades a little.]

I'm sorry I don't have anything for you. Mami is going to teach me some about baking so I can make gifts for people that way, but we haven't gotten together yet. I didn't even know there was a holiday coming up. What is celebrated during this one?

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko kept on smiling as she walked over to Lancer's bed and put his box on his bed. Hopefully, he would like it..and hopefully he wouldn't mind the letter inside.

She swallowed a small sigh and turned back to Diarmuid, still grinning. Smiles were sometimes used by Tohko as a mask.]

Oh, you're welcome! I didn't need to do it, but I wanted to..and it's alright, actually. It's probably best if I don't see Lancer for awhile. I'm not sure what I'd do if he did pop in here right now.

And you don't have to worry about giving me any cakes or anything! Don't worry about it. However, I can tell you what Valentines Day is about.

[You were kind of reminding her of Enoch and Christmas, Diarmuid. Tohko thought as she started to explain the holiday.]

Valentines Day is a holiday celebrated on the fourteenth of February. The story behind this holiday is that a priest named Saint Valentines was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for helping out Christians who were persecuted by the Romans.

Due to his crimes, he was thrown in jail and fell in love with the jailers daughter, who he healed. It's said that before his execution, he gave her a letter signed 'from your Valentine.'. As such, the holiday has been used to celebrate loves and the Saint, but back where I come from, it has been changed so that you can also celebrate your bonds with friends and family members.

[Tohko sighed to herself. This tale, for her, was delicious.]

It's a wonderful, sweet story, like a warm, sweet snowcone with a gumball at the bottom!

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid laughs at her description. Even though he thought it weird at first, he's starting to enjoy her odd way of describing these things.

Still, a holiday devoted to love? Perhaps it will be an extra good thing he is spending so much time alone. The last thing he needs it to tempt fate to pick now to have his curse activate.]

Sometime, I really should just have you give me a run down of all the main holidays of the year so I'm not so clueless all the time. Thank you for being so patient with me.

[He blushes a little bit.]

I wouldn't expect those cakes anytime soon anyway. I looked at the cook books you gave me after I talked to Mami and there were a few baking things in them. They look somehow more...complex than the other stuff was. Less forgiving. I think Mami will be helping me make quite a few failures before we get something that is actually good enough to eat.

[tohko_amano]

[Sadly for Diarmuid, his curse had already activated. Thankfully, he hadn't been in a crowd when it did. That would have caused chaos.

Not that Tohko knew this. However, while she didn't laugh, her smile did grow a little when Diarmuid blushed and spoke of his baking plights.]

Oh, it's no trouble at all, really! A friend of mine doesn't really know much about modern holidays either, so I don't mind explaining them to people I know. If you want, I could always make a calendar for you with all the important holidays on them.

[And then, since she couldn't reach his head, she patted his shoulder instead.]

And I wouldn't worry about the cakes, if I were you. It looks really complex, but after you start working with it, you'll see that it's not that hard. I made a few back in October. And I'm sure Mami will help out a lot! She seemed to be the type to know how to make a great cake.

[Yes, Diarmuid, Tohko had met Mami too.]

However, if you can't get a cake too me, a really sweet story or poem will do just as well!

[Or even better, actually, since Tohko could actually eat stories. Cakes, not so much. They just tasted like sand.]

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid gives he a gentle look at the pat.]

You are far too kind to me. I thank you.

[Honestly, he is really glad to have her as a friend. There is something so sturdy about her, so calming. With everything else going on in his mind right now, it's nice to have someone like that to talk to.]

But don't worry about the calendar. It won't mean that much to me. I care little for a date or name is assigned a day. It is just a day. Just try not to get annoyed when I ask questions.

[tohko_amano]

[At that, Tohko sighed a little.]

I don't see why or how I could get annoyed just by a simple question like that..but Valentines Day, Christmas, Halloween..they're more than just days, you know. They all have wonderful, delicious stories attached to them, even if some of them are bitter, salty, or heartbreakingly bittersweet.

[Tohko was a book girl who loved stories, no matter where they came from. As such, history was seen as the story of the world and gobbled up accordingly.]

Cafeteria

[celebrity_commentator]

Someone she might recognize but doesn't know is staring at the food. She'd had a bad experience before figuring out the 'oatmeal' thing and regarded her meal distrustfully.

However, when Tohko comes in with chocolates and boxes, her mind immediately snaps to something more important.

"Oh, shoot, Valentine's Day is this week, isn't it? And I'm stuck here..."

Cafeteria

[tohko_amano]

Tohko wasn't quite sure how she missed Rise, but when the girl talked, there was no way Tohko could just ignore her. She looked at Rise, and, smiling, replied.

"Well, while being stuck here isn't the best thing in the world, it doesn't mean that you're alone. You could spend Valentines Day with Kanji, Yosuke, and all your other friends! I'm sorry we didn't get to do the concert though..so many things happened. It was poor planning on my part."

[celebrity_commentator]

Wait.

"Uh, I'm sorry, I don't think we've met..." Rise said. "And also Yosuke-senpai didn't come with us, as far as I can tell..."

[tohko_amano]

Tohko looked puzzled at that.

"That's weird..I met Yosuke in the Tower a few months ago..and we've met, Rise! Or..I guess there's more than one Rise here now."

[celebrity_commentator]

"Wait, I was already here?" she asked. "I mean, there's more than one of me? No, wait, I already dealt with that..."

She stopped to get her thoughts together. "What exactly do you mean by more than one Rise?"

[tohko_amano]

Tohko sighed.

"That's exactly what I mean. I'm friends with another Rise in the Tower, but you don't even seem to know me. It's nothing to be surprised about..the Administrators here pull people from different universes and timelines, so the fact that two Rise's can exist here isn't that weird."

[celebrity_commentator]

"Oh."

"Well, Hinoto-ri already had the whole time travel thing going on...," she said, thoughtfully. "I haven't met multiples of anyone, though. I think."

How would she know?

"Oh, um, it's nice to meet you, then. I guess I made a good first impression the first time, sooooo hopefully that'll make up for this one," she added sheepishly. "I'm Rise Kujikawa, but you knew that already. Can I ask your name?"

cafeteria;

[oforder]

"Such an odd resonance from the Compass today, Tohko."

His voice would call out from behind her, just as he emerged from the kitchen carrying a clean glass of wine. "It would seem you have once again fallen under the Administrators' spell."

Oh yes, Tohko, he's definitely been following what you've been up to. He never stopped actually; he knew she was up to something, and he wanted to find out what it was. But this definitely was unexpected, even to him.

Wilhelm...

[tohko_amano]

It took everything Tohko had to not jump in surprise at Wilhelm's voice. At his words, she sighed to herself. At least she now knew that what she felt was because of Diarmuid's curse-it was probably under control by the Administrators, and they had decided to use it when she was around.

She put one more piece of chocolate in one of the boxes before turning around to face Wilhelm.

"I see..so the Administrators are trying to play with me again. Thank you for letting me know, Wilhelm."

Normally, she hated it when he looked at her personal conscious, but this time, considering the circumstances, she would let it pass.

"By the way, I've been meaning to apologize to you."

❤

[oforder]

It was true; he had indeed been watching her. She had caught his interest a while ago due to her insistence on trying to interfere with what was going on in his world despite barely understanding the necessity of what it is he is doing. She was a lot like Yeshua in that regard.

"You have been here this long, and yet, you do not understand the way they work?" Wilhelm asked, tilting his head to the side. "They enjoy toying with our emotions almost as much as they enjoy inflicting pain. You should have seen this coming. You should have known they would do this again after what happened with Enoch."

<3

[tohko_amano]

Sadly, unlike Yeshua, she didn't have any power to help, and nor could she actually oppose Wilhelm if it came to a fight.

While being a book girl had it's advantages, there were plenty of disadvantages too. At his words, Tohko sighed.

"Oh, I understand the way they work. It's just sometimes hard to know when they will strike next and with what. And it was probable that they would do something like this after what happened with Enoch..but I thought that probability was rather low. Plus..even if it did happen, I thought I could handle it fine."

..Whether she actually would have handled it alright was another matter altogether.

"Anyway, I'm sorry that you lost your arm during the KOS-MOS incident. I was trying to pull us both out of there, but I didn't mean to get your physical body harmed, even if you did have other reasons for jumping into that fray."

[oforder]

"Never underestimate them," he responded simply. "They will strike you when you are at your weakest, and when you are least expecting it." It was something he observed about them. They were never predictable.

"It is impossible to truly harm me. I cannot feel pain." Kevin learned that the hard way. And he sacrificed his life for nothing in the end. In fact... one might even say Wilhelm wanted him to do that.

[tohko_amano]

Tohko nodded in response. "They're like cobra's in a cage or Mrs.Trunchbull in a classroom. Don't worry. I'll be careful." Or so she said. But, for those that knew Tohko, she was liable to dash into something to help others, even if it would hurt herself.

She was a bit of a maroon that way.

"I didn't think it was possible to harm you physically. However, a chopped-off arm is still a chopped-off arm, and that didn't have to happen, so I do apologize."

cafeteria;

[rejecting]

"Tohko-chan!"

Orihime had been exiting the kitchen, carrying a few plates full of something with her, but as soon as she noticed Tohko, she hurried toward her.

She looked a little tired, but Orihime gave her friend a bright smile before setting her plates down on the closest table. After taking a look at the little note affixed to the plastic wrapping over each one, she found the one with Tohko's name, and presented it to her. The plate held a small pile of chocolate cookies, which were honestly no better than the tower's prepared food. There were all types of different candies sticking out of the top of each cookie. Candies that probably didn't mesh well with chocolate.

"Ah, I know chocolate is for guys usually, but I think holidays are different here! So I'm giving all my friends chocolates! It's more fun that way too."

Cafeteria

[tohko_amano]

Tohko stopped putting chocolates into the two boxes when she heard Orihime call out her name. As Orihime looked over the plates, she returned the smile and spoke.

"Good morning, Orhime!"

..However, when Orihime presented her with a plate of cookies-which looked delicious-along with an explanation, she couldn't help but give Orihime a warm smile when she took the plate.

"Oh, thank you so much! This really is kind of you! And it's interesting that you should say that..I'm planning on giving a box of chocolates to all of my friends too, no matter what their gender is. It should be fun!"

[rejecting]

"We both had the same idea!"

She restacked her other plates, then looked back to Tohko with a serious expression.

"It must be fate! Despite all the problems, this tower can change customs for the better!"

Because really, more chocolate is a good thing.

[tohko_amano]

Tohko put her plate down on the counter and grinned.

"It's great that we did though! It's just like they say: great minds think alike! And while this Tower is pretty horrible, it can change some things for the better and bring joy into people's lives!"

Tohko has seen that, so she knew it was true.