From Sailor Moon Flash!
| Featuring: | Rin, Bijiko |
| IC Date: | June 2002 |
| Status: | Completed |
| Summary: | New apartment neighbors meet up in their apartment elevator. And then the power goes out. |
Some players hated the pressure when the bases were loaded. The batter certainly did, Rin thought, glancing aside at the third base coach. There wasn't really anything the coach could tell Rin; she was on third, the bases were loaded. There was only one course of action she could take, and that was run on any fair ball. Rin's only disappointment was that the catcher for the opposing team appeared careful to remain out of the base path. She rather enjoyed plowing over them, truth be told.
When the ball was hit, it was good and fair, but scooped up and flung (good throw, Rin noted in her peripheral vision) toward home with the sort of velocity that made beating it there a challenge. It would have been, of course, entirely uncouth for the coach or the team to scream for her to slide as might have occurred at an American game, but Rin could feel them all thinking it like a radio broadcast. SLIDE KANSOU-SAN, SLIDE!
Rin slid.
It had been deeply, deeply embarrassing about the showers, but no one had been really put out. After all, they HAD won the game, and the euphoria over that was enough to shrug of the embarrassment of walking (or riding, for some of the lucky ones) home with the grime of the game still sticking to them. Fervent apologies were made regarding the road crew's scheduling; it was they who had cut off the water main. Rin didn't mind at all, despite the fact that she was one of the filthiest, what with the coating of basepath dust she'd recieved, but, as she pointed out to herself, she was going to run home anyway.
She could have, of course, walked home instead of running.
If she were a weenie.
She ran all the way into the foyer of her building, and considered running up the stairs as well (Mari had done it once, and had never let Rin forget it), but the door was propped open and the janitor was peacefully sweeping, and she didn't want to track her dust all over them, so she resigned herself to taking the elevator. Pressing the call button, which lit up cheerily to let her know the elevator was on its way, she rested her palms on her knees and flipped her braid over her shoulder to await its arrival.
Bijiko forced herself to provide a faint smile and a gracious nod towards the rather grimy young lady when she was allowed to enter the elevator first. Shuffling her packages about on her arms, she managed to push the button for the 12th floor without any untidy incidents. Leaning against the rail at the back of the elevator to allow room, she nonetheless could not suppress a shudder of horror when the other girl pressed her own button for the 11th floor. One glance at those dirty, ragged, unkept nails was all it took; it would be hours before she could eat, now! All the same, Bijiko realized suddenly that the poor woman was probably all too aware of her present state of being; undoubtedly she was heading upstairs to a long and luxurious shower followed by an even longer bath, with scented oils and soaps! At least, she kept telling herself this -- surely no one would WANT to stay this dirty.
The doors closed gracefully and the elevator began its ascent towards the upper levels of the apartment complex. Rolling her shoulders, weary at this point from carrying the parcels across town and through the subway, Bijiko kept one eye on the moving floor numbers and the other on the girl, much as an adult might keep an eye on a filthy stray cat that may or may not be friendly to people.
After only a few moments, however, the elevator reached the requested 11th floor... and then kept right on going. Bijiko heard what may or may not have been a hiss of sharply drawn breath from her elevator companion, much like the sound of frustration through clenched teeth would produce. The young lady punched the button for her floor again, hoping it was not completely missed... at which point the entire elevator came to a sudden, jarring stop as the brakes kicked in. The lights immediately went out, plunging the elevator into total darkness for a few seconds... long enough to illicit a squeak from a thoroughly startled Bijiko... before the yellow emergency lights above came on.
"......Well that's not good." Bijiko commented shakily, standing up straight once again and finding all of her packages still in order.
Rin had no idea how Bijiko managed to remain standing with all her packages still precariously, yet perfectly balanced. Rin herself, despite having no packages and one hand braced on the elevator wall at the time of the screeching halt, lost her footing and sat down hard on her tailbone, biting her tongue in the process. Nonetheless, she refused to make a sound, instead relegating the string of 'ow's to her thoughts until she could answer.
The elevator was obviously a piece of crap, and she intended to contact maintenance about it as soon as she was somewhere that included a phone. The lift was so old it possessed no alarm, and no phone, probably because it was an apartment lift rather than one for an office building.
"No." she answered, regretting that she didn't know the girl well enough to comment upon her superb grasp of the incredibly obvious. After a moment, she jabbed at the buttons again, to no avail. It took every ounce of willpower in her not to kick the instrument panel, but that would have been destruction of complex property.
Also there was a witness.
"At least it didn't happen this morning. I'm not having my attendance record marked up over a faulty elevator."
She glared at the instrument panel, hoping to frighten it back into operation. The instrument panel was not impressed. Neither was Bijiko.
Bijiko, on the other hand, just stared incredulously ahead for several moments after the elevator came to its abrupt and fateful halt. Ordinarily she might have found it amusing to see the other girl, obviously athletic, unable to maintain her balance, but being stuck with someone who was so obviously in need of a shower took the humor out of the situation. Swallowing hard, she took a step forward, coming closer to Rin and the instrument panel.
"What... what do you think happened?"
And then, inspiration hit her. Her large, expressful eyes widened even as they focused first on Rin's hands as she pushed the button yet again, and then on the panel itself, and an unconscious gasp escaped her lips.
"Dirt! That must be it!" she stated, nodding calmly. "The dirt from your hands must have caused the button to stick, and the elevator could not figure out WHAT to do with it, so it broke down."
Blinking, she took another look at Rin, from shoes to hair, and asked quite seriously, "Actually, don't they have SHOWERS at the stadium, anyway? Or at least a hose? Oh well, doesn't matter now," she continued right on, not noticing any possible expressions of fury on Rin's features. "I suppose it's only a matter of time before maintenance comes to look at it."
Rin gave Bijiko a dirty look, which was remarkably ironic given the previous conversation on dirt. She also gave the elevator a dirty look, which did not, unfortunately, make it start again.
"That's impossible." Rin replied, rolling her eyes. "I've seen little kids push these buttons with hands all covered in jam, and it didn't stop then."
The remainder of what Bijiko said just floored her, utterly floored her. She was not, of course, unaware that she was... well, kind of gross, make that extremely gross, but to call attention to it, particularly with the alternate suggestion of a hose was... well, Rin was just not accustomed to such things.
"No." she said, shortly, and with a scowl that went unnoticed. "The water main was broken. Even if it wasn't the hose was connected to the sprinkler system."
Rin had no idea where THAT came from. In all honesty, she had to bite back a codicil to the statement to the effect that if it were that much of an issue, they could always start a fire and let the building's sprinkler system turn on. The only thing that kept her from doing so was the fear that there was an intercom somewhere, and the landlord would hear her voicing such a flagrant and criminal violation of building policy, and then she would get evicted and expelled from school and never get married OR get a job, and she would have to move to the United States and dress up in costumes for fat American fanboys, and SHE WOULD HAVE TO KILL HERSELF TO RESTORE HONOR TO HER FAMILY AFTER THAT.
"I'm calling maintenance."
The elevator was too old to possess an actual call button, so Rin dug in her bag, fishing out her cel phone while trying not to get too much dirt on the clean street clothes she'd have changed into had the showers been operational. To her annoyance, she could picture the informative sheet on her refrigerator listing the number for after hours, and the number for maintenance. To her extreme annoyance, she couldn't picture the number herself, and had never bothered to memorize it.
"... do you know the number?"
Bijiko couldn't help but roll her eyes at Rin's question; though a part of herself was exasperated that she had not thought of it, the simple fact was that phonebooks exist within cellphones in this day and age for a REASON. It's simply sad when someone can't even figure out how to use it!
"Yes, actually! I have it stored right here in my phone, and that is, err..." oh how hard it was to say! "That is a good idea." she managed finally.
Rumaging about her purse, she finally came up with the cellphone in question with a faintly triumphant look on her face! That expression quickly fell into one of incredulity, however, with an obvious reddening of blood vessels in her cheeks. "I just charged you yesterday!" she exclaimed softly to the phone, shaking it for good measure. With a sigh, though, she was forced to concede defeat. "The, uh... the battery is dead." Given that the phones were obviously different models, there was no point even looking at the batteries. Grimacing, she put the phone back into her purse, not daring to look at Rin's expression.
By now, the smells of the beef ramen bowl and rice were definitely filling the elevator with a heady fragrance, and reminded Bijiko that she was getting hungry! It did not occur to her as of yet that Rin must be even worse off. All the same though, she couldn't help but notice the state of Rin's hands and face yet again, and at last set down her shopping bags. "Look..." she began, quickly sorting through one of them before pulling out a box. "You're welcome to use these anyway, since we might be in here a while." The box is actually a carton of pre-wet cleaning wipes, typically used for makeup removal, and scented notably with Honeysuckle. Bijiko might not know Rin hardly at all, but surely no one would want to STAY that dirty... right? With that thought in mind she offered the box to Rin, after breaking the fresh seal on the top.
"So neither of us can get in touch with maintenance. I guess we're stuck here, then."
It was the sort of tone one might use to declare the death of a particularly old and beloved relative, or at least a particularly old and beloved kitchen appliance. Rin tried very hard not to wonder why Bijiko had maintenance's number programmed into her phone. The apartment was old, yes, but it certainly wasn't old enough for things to break that often.
"New elevators have the number posted next to the license," she muttered, and voicing the proof that this was not her failure ALONE made her feel much better. "I'm going to call my cousin. Then she can call maintenance for us, if she's home."
Rin started to push the preprogrammed button for Mari. Then she noticed the blinking bar on the side of her screen.
"... no signal."
OH MY GOD, Rin thought, WHAT DO I PAY MY WIRELESS SERVICE FOR I am CHANGING MY PROVIDER AS SOON AS I GET HOME.
It was only then that she noticed Bijiko offering her the wipes, which she had to admit was a terribly... ... nice thing to do, even if it was partially motivated by the previous desire to turn a hose on her. Almost immediately afterward she noticed that they smelled like flowers. DELICATE flowers. Rin was under absolutely no illusions that this sort of scent was in any way appropriate to her.
"... am I going to smell like that?"
Bijiko couldn't help but to roll her eyes towards the ceiling; clearly this girl has the femininity of a goat! "Of course you'll smell like that. It's HONEYSUCKLE. You know... flowers!" she said, stating the obvious. Then she peered at Rin a little more closely. "Surely you don't PREFER to stay covered head to toe in dirt. Here, I have plenty!" With a brisk movement, she grabbed an entire fistful of the wipes from the package, pushing them into Rin's hands.
Setting down the carton and ignoring Rin's horrified expression, Bijiko spent a moment rummaging about in her purse before coming up with phase 2 -- a round-headed brush. "Here, let me help."
As soon as the words left her mouth, however, the elevator suddenly shifted, the lights on the buttons coming back to life. The elevator shuddered upward a few inches before coming to a grinding halt all over again. The movement made several of Bijiko's bags fall over, spilling a few articles of clothing and makeup into the corner. Bijiko, as graceful as a cat, barely flailed at the movement, while unfortunately Rin landed on her backside all over again, honeysuckle scented wipes falling into her lap.
The horror did not end there, however. Rin's personal nightmare just beginning, by the time she had steadied herself, Bijiko was already kneeling on the elevator floor behind her, easily removing the elastic band holding her braid in place with the clear precision of someone who loves to play with hair. "Well, it looks like they're trying to get it fixed!" she said cheerfully, deftly grabbing a fistful of Rin's hair in a tight but not un-gentle grip at the bottom of her cascade of hair with her left hand while already stroking the brush through her hair with the other. Bijiko made a face at all the tangles, though. "Wow, this BADLY needed brushing, you know... maybe some conditioner, I mean it's such a PRETTY color but also so v... *OH* my *GOD* look at these split ends!" she continued to exclaim, forcing the brush through the thick, reddish hair.
"I don't PREFER to..." Rin began, before too much happened for her to process at once. The honeysuckle wipes in her hands, the elevator knocking her on her ass (it was amazing how little her childhood years on the balance beam helped with things like elevators) and...
And.
It was absolutely incomprehensible to Rin, the swift and utterly shameless way Bijiko took the brush to her hair. Rin had not had someone else brush her hair since she was FIVE and she took the brush away from her mother and said she'd do it herself. The only time she had been so woefully misbehaved as to stand in the corridor with a bucket of water, it had been because she's smacked a boy for fussing with her braid.
Rin had never attended, in her life, a sleepover.
All this went through her head, and not a damn bit of it could transfer to her legs to make her stand up. Her first instinct was to bury her face in her hands for a second, just a second to get her bearings, BUT HER HANDS WERE FULL OF FLOWER SCENTED WIPES, and DESPITE the shameless actions of her elevator companion, it would have been terribly rude to scream bloody murder. Rin was very hungry, and very tired, and screaming bloody murder was something an AMERICAN would do, BESIDES. There were many things that could have connected, many things that would have been polite that she could have said. She could have politely asked Bijiko to put her hair down. She could have politely refused the wipes. She could have politely pointed out that since the elevator was moving sporadically, it was likely almost fixed and they might as well stand in opposite corners of the elevator and wait for it. She could have said all these things, but what came out, as was often the case with Rin, was what she was actually thinking.
"... what are split ends?"
Already deeply engrossed in her examination and brushing of Rin's long, now free-flowing hair, it took Bijiko a moment to realize that Rin had in fact asked her a question. And then it took her another moment to process the fact that Rin was actually ASKING in earnest, because she did NOT KNOW what split ends were. A sharp little intake of breath was heard from Bijiko just as she concluded that Rin definitely needed an education in hair care.
"Split ends," Bijiko began in a surprisingly cheerful voice, "or more properly trichoptlosis, is a condition caused when the cuticle that acts as an end cap to each strand of hair, protecting it, is damaged and then allows both the cortex and medula to fray into seperate strands. After a while the hair turns dry and brittle and uncomfortable, and no girl wants that! You DO have such nice hair though." she observed, continuing on as though she had not just provided a scientific explanation for the problem. "Your best bet is to make sure you wash it every day with a gentle shampoo and conditioner and do NOT blow dry it that's out of the question, just lightly rub it with a towel, and then every six weeks or so you should stop by a stylist oh and I can recommend several to you and let them trim just 1 cm off the end your hair will still grow but that will prevent further split ends and your hair will be SO pretty!". At this point she actually pauses for breath, and right then and there Rin's nightmare continues to expand upon itself as her stomach rumbles quite audibly.
Thought one that went through Rin's head was stylist? Thought two was gentle shampoo and conditioner? There were DIFFERENCES? The thought was baffling. It was liquid soap. It came in a bottle. It removed dirt from hair. It was like dish soap: it cleaned the dishes. She was baffled.
... and she was starving. AND HER HAIR WAS DOWN, and both of these things were being deeply aggravated by the girl behind her, who had just given her a Ph.D course in the chemistry of hair. Which was not to say that Rin didn't enjoy chemistry, and in fact the scientific explanation made more sense than anything ELSE her elevatormate had said previously.
And she did NOT EITHER have "nice hair."
"I have to go." she said abruptly, backing up against the elevator wall. Bijiko looked at her like she was an idiot, then made a sympathetic face and spoke in very small words, as if she were speaking to a very small child.
"We're stuck in the elevator. Remember?"
Obviously the horrible stomach growl was an indication that Rin was not getting enough calories in her diet. Which was understandable, because she kind of did need to work on her figure, honestly, but that wouldn't have been very nice to say unless she buying a dress that was not at ALL appropriate for her figure. Which Bijiko was fairly certain Rin did. Frequently. Disasterously.
"I am going to climb out the emergency chute," Rin said calmly, pointing at the hatch in the top of the elevator, "and see if the circuits are blown. Failing that, I will fall to my death, and this will all be over."
Bijiko could not help but stare in bafflement as Rin, who appeared calm other than her eyes which kind of stared in fixed incredulity at the walls of the elevator, walked to the center of the space and looked upwards at the emergency hatch. "Um... how are you going to get up there?" Bijiko couldn't help but inquire, noting that the ceiling was about 7 feet high.
At this point, Rin's hair was flowing quite free of its usual constraints and was actually quite pretty, though Rin would most likely hurt anyone who had the temerity to point this out to her. Standing on her tiptoes, Rin did her very best to stretch towards the hatch, but was still about a foot short of actually reaching it. "It's too high," Bijiko said aloud, still staring at the hatch herself, "why don't you just relax? I'm sure they will have the power back on soon, and I can do your nails while we wait!!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together in delight at the end.
A sound that was half wail and half hysterical giggle escaped from Rin's mouth at these words, and she began jumping towards the hatch. Her athletic form was apparent as her fingertips brushed the ceiling. "I must escape!" she murmured to herself, dust falling from her softball uniform to the floor. Bijiko's mouth opened, closed, and then opened again as she watched Rin trying desperately to reach the semi-hidden latch. That's when she felt the ever-so-slight vibration from the floor. "Uhm... I'm not sure that this is a good idea, maybe you should... EEP!!!"
With Rin's final jump, her fingers finally managed to touch the latch. Unfortunately, that's exactly when the elevator came back online and lurched upwards. Bijiko almost maintained her cat-like balance, but Rin came down in mid-jump and could not help but fall forward when her foot hit the floor much earlier than anticipated. And, as luck would have it, Rin fell right on top of Bijiko, managing to knock her to the floor anyway.
Despite being annoyed that she had been unable to levitate to the elevator hatch on her righteous indignation alone, Rin's first thought was gratitude that the elevator was moving. It was only after that she realized that she had fallen on top of her new aquaintance. Her second thought was that the perfume on said acquaintance was GETTING ON HER SOFTBALL UNIFORM and it HAD BETTER COME OUT and she was going to the LAUNDROMAT RIGHT NOW even though her spare uniform was still clean.
Number three, after processing the first two, was that she was very dirty and despite the differences in personality, Bijiko hadn't actually been rude to her, and that it was extremely rude in the converse to have flattened her. She tried to get up, automatically apologizing in a constant polite stream as her upbringing demanded, although she still felt mainly gratitude that her nails were going to avoid "doing," whatever that meant. It was almost certainly different from "biting," which was the only maintenance they usually received.
Rin fell over twice more in her haste to get up, one reason being that she kept tripping on her hair. Through sheer pigheadedness, she managed to avoid actually falling ON Bijiko again, although she did bite her tongue twice in the process.
"... I can have that dry-cleaned," she added to her apologies, noting the points where her dirty uniform had smudged Bijiko's undoubtedly dry-clean only clothes.
"That's okay, I was bored of this skirt anyway. Time to go shopping!" Bijiko stated with a shrug after glancing down at the smudges of dirt on her outfit. Dusting herself off as she got to her feet, she glanced around at the now fully lighted elevator as it continued to rise just a few more floors, coming to a gentle stop on Rin's.
Bijiko sighed, "Well, it looks like they got the power back on!". She actually looked slightly disappointed that she was not going to get a chance to complete her instruction of Rin in the arts of hair and nail care! "HEY!" she exclaimed suddenly, "I have an idea! Maybe you'll go with me for a manicure sometime soon. Here..."
Working quickly, while completely missing the fact that Rin was now backing out of the elevator with a wide eyed, horrified expression on her face, Bijiko rummaged about her purse, coming up at last with a notepad and pen. Scribbling for a moment, she at last hands a torn sheet of paper to Rin. "Here's my apartment and number." Naturally, just as luck would have it, the apartment was immediately over Rin's. The same one that has the early morning vacuuming on occasion.
With that, Rin successfully managed to escape, the slip of paper crumbled in a fist as she half ran down the hall to her own apartment. Bijiko, in the meantime, hummed to herself and began gathering her shopping bags and dinner up for the few moments it took for the elevator to arrive at the subsequent floor. Walking gracefully down the hall, Bijiko arrived at her own apartment and stepped inside. "Hello fish." she said aloud with a glance at the fish tank as she set down her things, including today's mail, which just happened to contain a congratulatory letter from a local day spa...
