[Aside] Brewing the Hearts

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Kokuten
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Joined: Sat Dec 25, 2010 11:06 pm

[Aside] Brewing the Hearts

Post by Kokuten »

It hadn't stopped snowing since the visit to Ruarc's little cottage. For a few days people adjusted to the hazier weather with thicker coats and caps, while the city responded with salt and dozers. Life proceeded like the snowflake, at the whim of the winds pressing on its path to the ground. The teachers had been packing on more school work to adapt to the extra time the students spent inside. The students slowly adapted to their cabin fever by occupying themselves, but answered the springing flowers of their youth by occasionally making romps outside into the snow if only for a walk.

Percival wished he could walk.

It had been almost two weeks since they had started running, two weeks since Percival had become more active. People could notice he was tired as of late, drained as if from a lack of sleep. Yet when he was around his friends, he gained a certain energy to do things. Things like running, in the snow. Miyuki had been right, running was good for the typical human being, the activity inspired energy and granted stamina, along with toned muscles. Even with just two weeks, Percival saw a marked improvements in his health, despite his oddly proportionate lack of energy.

Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, went their tennis shoes smashing the snow beneath the soles of their shoes. Miyuki and Percival were running that day, but instead of doing it in their school uniforms, they did so in running clothes. They wore long pants and shirts, Miyuki's being a light blue, and Percival's being a deep, deep green. The two were becoming a common sight on the running route, but today the folks could notice a markedly less amount of deathly throes spitting out of westerner's mouth as he ran today.

Today, Percival was mighty, breathing evenly and striding powerfully. One could consider him an athelete among scholars and scribes, his ability to cover short distances without becoming winded astounding. His mastery of the running arts was impeccable, and to be respected by others of his kind.

Yet... He was still slagging behind a good four meters from Miyuki, as always. The scholarly athelete was no competition for the real thing, especially one to be compared postively only to a group who never excercises at all.

Miyuki's run came to an end as she crossed some imaginary line, a spot that demarked the end of their running for the day. Still jogging around in small circles to cool down from her run, she checked the time on her watch, and then again as Percival crossed the line soon after her. Through some deep, foggy breaths, she smiled, and then called to Percy, "Looks good, You've already brought your time down by almost a minute," she congratulated him, patting him on the back as she did so, before leaning over to catch her breath, the Icy air making it a bit harder to do so, but, she noted, not as much as it had seemed to last year.

"I know we probably picked a bad time to start, but just imagine the gains you'll make come spring," the black-haired girl postulated, nudging Percy gently in the ribs. For all her smiling and Jibing, though, she still avoided too much eye contact with the boy. As much as he might have wanted different, there was still a little bit of awkward air between the two of them after Percy's accidental confession, and Miyuki had been treating their running as more of a professional thing, as if she viewed him as a teammate and not much else.

This was something that the boy had noticed, yet had never bothered to truly correct or bring up. Having thought about it, leaving it alone was the safest measure, but at the same time, that's how he lost the first girl he liked. Trying too hard meant risking animosity, not trying enough meant losing his chance and making animosity a more appealing option. It was hard being hopeless.

Still, as he leaned up against the same wall Miyuki did, he couldn't help but feel like doing nothing was nice. He enjoyed these little runs with her, and saw them as a way to make their friendship a little stronger as well as his body.

"I don't know," said Percival, a little breathless still, "I like running with the cold air. I'm not much one for sweating all over the place, you see. Besides, it's a lot more fun that I'd thought it'd be."

The girl chuckled. "You still sweat in this temperature. That's why we're taking it easy. If you get sweaty in the cold, then it freezes, and you get Hypothermia, which is bad." Miyuki smiled at his other comment though, and put a hand on his shoulder. "I told you, didn't I? It's good for you, and it's fun. You were just afraid to try. Sometimes, you just gotta step out, and try something, even if you're afraid."

Percival smiled as well, his heel turning in the snow somewhat shyly. Having been picked last for most sports teams in the past, and athletic events at the academy, it felt good to be somewhat encouraged. The boy looked back at her with those green eyes, and their light glow. One could barely pick up on it, even if they were a mage, but he had energy in his eyes, literal energy in the color. "All thanks to you, of course. You've been very kind, helping me out like this. And I..."

He paused, thinking back to his linguistics research. "I appreciate what you've done to help me."

"Don't worry about it," Miyuki started, grinning. She was afraid for a moment that he was going to say /that/ again, but, he had fixed his error, which, she also knew was an error, but the circumstances and the timing still stung her as awkward, even after two weeks. "And I appreciate you coming and joining me in my practice." She looked up, up at the steely grey sky, a light smattering of snowflakes lazily drifting on a light, cool breeze, the tree branches clacking gently agains tone another, with no leaves to offer cushion.

"Sometimes I get lonely out here, you know? I'm the only one dedicated enough to keep training through the winter, all my teammates always slack off while they can." She smiled again, warmly, and looked into Percy's eyes for more than half a second- probably the first time in two weeks she had done so. "And it feels good to be helping a friend."

"Well," Percival said, that magic in his eyes suddenly energizing him as he met her gaze. He threw a up a thumbs-up and grinned, someone cheerful, and spoke playfully, "Maybe if your team saw you running with a handsome guy like me, they'd start running in the off season too!"

Miyuki suddenly doubled over with laughter, unable to keep it contained after Percy's last comment. She even snorted a couple times, or at least, Percy thought she did. After a few moments, she managed to regain herself, wiping tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes and sniffing some as the last fits of giggles subsided.

"Ahaha... I'm not sure even that would get them to run..." She peeked over at the Welshboy and began laughing again, this time sliding down against the wall until she was sitting on the ground. "Maybe... Maybe you should try comedy sometimes," she joked, on top of it.

"Really?" answered Percival a tad coy, before sliding down with Miyuki onto the less snowed-upon floor, the winter flurries gently cascading all around them. "I've been told the Caxton family's full of all kinds of jokers, but I've never heard much comedy out of them. Rather, I'd say we Caxton's are full of confidence." Went Percival, holding up two confident fists, before setting them down onto the ground, "They say confidence can make you funny sometimes, with the things you do, and say."

The japanese girl grinned, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, I'd say you can be a bit overconfident. But, you know. You're a different kind of confident than you used to be," She commented, nudging one of his feet with her longer, more slender ones. "You used to be all confident in your studies and your alchemy and what have you, but just two weeks ago you were afraid to run three blocks to school." Now she pointed to the track they had just been running around, and smiled "And just two weeks later, you're running a kilometer like it's nothing. You aren't even complaining anymore."

"Well..." Percival's foot began nudging back at Miyuki's tapping his toe against the side of her foot, "I used to think that whatever I lacked in magic, I could make up in studies, and I thought the same for my body. Science and Alchemy has so many secrets that I had come to the conclusion that I'd use them."

He tilted his head forward, smiling at Miyuki with a nice warmth, "I never thought about what I was missing out on by just being human. Running like this showed me that I've got so much more strength than just in my mind." He laughed, tapping against her foot again two times with a ginger, toothy grin, "I'm surprised you're not more popular with people with how nice you are, Kagami-san."

Miyuki made a sour face at Percy. "Are you saying I don't have any friends? What about Hana and Hisoka? How about Raiko? Or the track team? Don't they count?" she listed off, noting on her fingers just how many people that was. "Unless you mean popular like Miss what'sherface who wears her uniform unbuttoned and only wants attention from Boys, and tries her best to degrade everyone else. The girls that look up to her are the sorriest people I've ever known, and the boys that like her are just pigs." She stuck out her tongue in mild disgust at the idea of it all. "I'm not sure how she can stand all that, anyway."

The boy brought up a finger to the edge of his head, scratching a small itch, "Well, maybe I did mean your popularity with boys." His foot curled back to his other one, knocking the balls of his feet together, "Boys like nice girls who don't show off, even if it doesn't seem that way."

"And by boys, you mean you, Right?" Miyuki alluded, nudging Percy's shoulder with her own. With that, she abruptly righter herself, standing up to look down at Percy, and offering a hand to help him up. "We both know what you said that day, and I'm pretty sure you meant it, even if you didn't mean to say it just then."

Percival looked up at Miyuki, blinking somewhat in disbelief. His eyes trailed to her hand, and then back up to her. After a moment, he took her hand, his fingers somewhat warmer than hers, and pulled himself. Though, instead of giving Miyuki a smile, he simply gave her that serious face, as if she weren't right at all. As if, in truth, it was not true. "Isn't that awful presumptious?"

Miyuki's hands went stright to her hips as soon as she helped the young man up, and she returned his skeptical gaze. "If it isn't true, then tell me now and be done with it," she demanded of him, "Or," she continued "You can admit it and see where it goes from here." The Japanese girl quirked an eyebrow, as if challenging Percy to something.

The answer she got may not have been exactly what she expected, but he wasn't going to be beaten. He reached for her hands, and brought them together, clasped under his own. The boy leaned his face forward, so she could hear him clearly, and see that swirly energy under the color of his eyes. What he said was the truth to be taken at heart, and apparently to be heard by anyone walking by thanks to his firm tone.

"Kagami Miyuki, I love you."

Miyuki grinned, and leaned in closer. "Confidence, right? You had some before, but you needed the right kind, didn't you?" she asked him, rhetorically, before leaning in all the way and planting her lips on his cheek. She pulled back after a moment and looked at him again.

"Consider this a token of my trust. I forgive you, but my trust isn't something given lightly. For now, just know that I like having you around, and perhaps, with a bit more confidence..." She smiled, pulling her hands from his, and clasping them behind her back. She backpedaled away, back out into the snow. "What do you say about another lap before we head inside?"

Percival started to run in place, going from left to right interchangably with a bit of a cocky grin on his face, "I think I've got it in me, now."
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