View source for 2495/Misery Loves Company

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2017/02/22
|Location=Makoto's Apartment
|Synopsis=Ami got some letters! Ami is *super nervous* about her letters so she comes for a sleepover at Makoto's apartment and it's up to Makoto to play 'good news, bad news'. On the bright side, drilling Mako on conversational English makes an excellent distraction from crushing disappointment?
|Cast of Characters=42,54
|pretty=yes
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{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:42|Makoto Kino| (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Knowing that Ami is anxious about the letters she received, Makoto doesn't mention them straight off the bat - she just greeted her friend with a hug and invited her to get comfortable. It's not until they're both settled in comfortably in their PJs with snacks (because of course there are snacks) and Ami's had a chance to relax a little bit that Mako holds out her hand.<br /><br />"Okay," she says, with the brisk cheer of someone preparing to get business done, "you had some letters for me to open for you, right? Hand 'em over, let's have a look."<br /><br />They have to get it out of the way ''sometime''.

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Wintertime pajamas for Ami consist of a pair of warm yoga pants and a loose, ruffled blue tanktop. She brought plenty of fruits for the morning crepes Makoto promised, and was all too happy to not launch straight into the matter at hand. But that didn't stop her being anxious about it as they went about the business of getting dressed, getting snacks, and talking about their days.<br /><br />Now that the necessary pleasantries are out of the way, and they've come to the matter at hand, Ami isn't sure she ''wants'' to give the letters up. It's like asking the question has flipped the switch from anxious to get to it to wanting to avoid it at all costs.<br /><br />Still, this is ''why'' they're here, so with a grimace, Ami leans over to her bookbag and fetches the letters out. She flips through them, one after the other, looking them over uncertainly. Then, suddenly, she pulls one out of the collection and offers it to Makoto.<br /><br />"This one first," Ami exclaims uncertainly. It's a letter from Heidelberg University, in Germany, making it simultaneously the least scary and most mysterious of the letters.

:'''{{#var:42|Makoto Kino| (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Mako is prepared to press if she has to, gently, but it looks like she isn't going to have to. "Okay!" she agrees brightly, taking the envelope from Ami's hands; she examines it curiously for a moment before she begins tearing open the flap and extracting the letter from within.<br /><br />It takes her exactly a quarter of a second of looking at the unfolded sheet of paper to realize that there's a problem.<br /><br />"Hey, Ami-chan..." Just that quickly, the enthusiasm has drained from her voice, leaving a sense of hapless resignation and vague embarrassment in its place. "This one's in English."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ami watches Makoto with trepidation. When her friend's enthusiasm turns to embarassment, of course Ami misinterprets it as something bad. "What? What's--" but Makoto explains right away, and Ami's eyes widen a little.<br /><br />She stares at Makoto in confusion for a few heartbeats, then giggles at the irony. "Oh, Mako-chan," she mumbles, then scoots around to sit beside her friend. Ami leans her head on Makoto's shoulder, then says, "Go ahead and try reading it. I'm not afraid of this letter, really, so we'll read it together, and use this one to practice your English, okay?"

:'''{{#var:42|Makoto Kino| (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"''Ugh''." With exaggerated drama, Makoto leans in against her friend. "Ami-chaaaaaan, why is it a study session all of a sudden?"<br /><br />Despite the plaintive tone, she's grinning. Soon enough she's shaking off her own complaints, though not without a sigh. "All right, all right," she says, lifting the letter in preparation. "I'll try and figure it out, but this might take a while, you know. Let's see..."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Well," Ami says, primly, "If you really don't want to work on it, I'm sure Nephrite won't mind if you require him to do all of the reading, and all of the talkiing, and translate everything to Japanese for you, when you go to meet his parents. I'm sure that won't be awkward at all," she teases.<br /><br />But of course Makoto relents, and Ami hugs her gently as they start going through the letter together. It doesn't take long, and Ami focuses more on Makoto's comprehension than her accent (for now).<br /><br />When they're through, the bluenette squints at the letter, then at Makoto, then asks, "Why would some random university in Germany want me to come study with them, when I'm not even out of high school, yet? Did we go back in time? Is this a nepharious Zoisite plot to capture me?"

:'''{{#var:42|Makoto Kino| (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Mako can't quite resist the impulse to stick her tongue out at Ami at the teasing, but she does buckle down to translating the letter and with Ami's help she manages to puzzle through it, more or less.<br /><br />To Ami's confusion, she can only shrug. "Somehow I don't think that's it," she says. "But it might be some kind of weird magic thing, if it's not a place you've sent your information to or anything like that? Maybe we should check into it?"<br /><br />She really doesn't know, to be honest, if this is something out of the ordinary or not, and can only peer at the letter. "Or maybe they just heard about how smart you are somehow and really want you to study with them that bad."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Mmm, maybe," Ami agrees to the puzzle's lack of solution, then shrugs as well and scoots away from Makoto back to the small pile of letters. Two left. "Anyways, read this one next," she says, handing over the one that isn't University of Tokyo. "I have no idea what they want with me, but given it came at the same as these two I'm kinda nervous about it. They're not a well ranked school, although they do have a chess club. Maybe they're just inviting me to a competition?" She doesn't sound terribly confident in her guess.

:'''{{#var:42|Makoto Kino| (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Hmmm~" It's a drawn-out sound with an interested upward inflection, as Makoto accepts the second envelope and gives it the same kind of look-over she treated the German envelope to. "Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare, huh?"<br /><br />As before, she tears open the envelope and slides out the letter, unfolding it to read, brightening this time. "At least these guys wrote to you in Japanese," she comments, eyes skimming over the letter's contents.<br /><br />"It says that even though you're young, you have a bright future and they're inviting you to attend classes starting this spring," Mako reports. "Also something about placing you in classes that are high school equivalencies so you can get the benefit of those credit hours. It's not a good school, though?" Lifting her eyes from the page, Makoto looks over towards Ami, brow creasing faintly in thought.

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ami blinks in surprise at the offer. "Really?" she says. "That's weird. I didn't apply to them, either. And I'm certainly not qualified, I don't think, although I guess if they can work some deal with the department of Education ..." she trails off, pursing her lips in thought.<br /><br />But Makoto asked a question, and that draws Ami back from her thoughtfulness after a moment. "Well, I mean, they're accredited," she explains, "but if University of Tokyo has the best accredited medical program in the nation, then Kawasaki University is basically the worst. It's a ''fine school'', and if my goal were to desperately go to college anywhere, just because I don't want to be in High School, I guess it'd work if Tokyo turned me down? But the point wasn't to skip high school; it was to start working on my degree at University of Tokyo while also going to high school, because I'm interested in the studies. I am definitely not interested in going all the way to ''Kawasaki'' for education. The German school would be more interesting."

:'''{{#var:42|Makoto Kino| (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Gotcha." Makoto dips her head in a short nod, and offers the letter over to Ami to dispose of as she wishes. "It kinda sounds like it'd be a better deal for them than for you. There's no reason for you to settle for a school that's not all that great, even if they beg you to go there."<br /><br />That just leaves the one remaining envelope. Mako doesn't say anything further, just holds out her hand expectantly.

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ami accepts the envelope back, reads over it briefly for herself, then wrinkles her nose and crumples it up almost immediately. Then she pauses and looks at the ball of paper and sighs. "I suppose they at least deserve a response," she notes as she uncurmples the paper carefully and attempts smoothing it.<br /><br />All while Makoto has her hand out. Ami's stalling. It's very obvious she's stalling, and at some point Makoto is going to call her on it.<br /><br />When she does, Ami grimaces and looks up at her friend. A soft sigh and she grabs the last letter. With a last hesitant look, she offers it over and covers her eyes. "If it's bad, just don't tell me, okay?"

:'''{{#var:42|Makoto Kino| (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ami puts the last envelope into her hand, but Makoto doesn't pay it much attention right away; instead, she takes a moment to wrap her arm around her friend's shoulders and give her an encouraging squeeze. "It'll be okay," she says.<br /><br />But no more stalling - there's only one way to find out what the letter contains. As she did with the other two before it, Makoto tears open the envelope to extract and unfold the letter, glancing over what's printed there.<br /><br />She never has much control over her facial expressions; it's clear pretty quickly from the way her face falls that the news isn't anything to celebrate.

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ami tries to smile at the hug, but it's hard when you're so nervous. She's spent more than six months preparing for this moment; more than six months hoping and re-considering and studying and chiding herself and cautioning against getting her hopes up and letting herself get them up anyways.<br /><br />When Makoto opens the letter, Ami holds her breath. But she doesn't realise she's holding it until, after more than a minute, Makoto still hasn't said anything and holding her breath has begun to grow difficult.<br /><br />Ami holds her breath another moment longer, then lets it out in a sudden burst of air followed by an intake. "What does it say!?" she asks after recycling the oxygen in her lungs.

:'''{{#var:42|Makoto Kino| (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makoto hesitates a moment longer, trying to figure out the right way to say it. If there is one, she can't find it. "...basically," she begins reluctantly, "thank you for applying, and they think you have a bright future, but..."<br /><br />Right about now, she's really kind of regretting volunteering to read these for Ami. Being the bearer of this kind of message stings a lot worse than she'd expected. "...they don't think your exam scores are high enough to justify enrolling you in university classes," Mako says quietly. "It says they think your absences probably affected your scores, and to please try again next year. I'm sorry, Ami-chan."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ami holds her breath again when Makoto says 'basically'. She doesn't let it out again until well after Makoto apologizes. When she does, it comes with a shrug. She opens her eyes and reaches for the snacks Makoto's made to nibble on them, but she doesn't say anything.<br /><br />For a moment she's occupied by having a mouthful of sweets. Eventually, though, she can't hide behind sweets. Instead, she asks, "So, should we switch to speaking in English for the rest of the night? You really do need to work on your English."

:'''{{#var:42|Makoto Kino| (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Ami-chan..." Mako regards the other girl with worried eyes, but though she searches Ami's expression carefully, she can't seem to find any clue as to whether it's really okay to let it go at that. <br /><br />In the end, though it rests uncomfortably with her, she can't come up with anything helpful to say, and just lets out a quiet breath and hangs her head a little. "I really do," she agrees in a tone of lament. "I guess we should do that at least for a while." She's looking ''super'' unenthusiastic about it, though.

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>With a sharp intake of breath, Ami switches to English. "These snacks are really tasty," she begins, focusing on the food because it's easy and it's comforting. She speaks slowly for Makoto's sake, drawing out the words a bit more than is necessary so her friend doesn't have to work past mumbling as well as the foreignness of the language.

:'''{{#var:42|Makoto Kino| (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Reluctant but dutiful, Makoto focuses her attention on listening, frowning with intense concentration while she tries to place the foreign sounds and words based on what she remembers from class. It's not so much comprehension as it is latching onto one or two words that she ''thinks'' she recognizes and guessing at the intended meaning from there.<br /><br />She looks very uncertain, but after all, that's why they're doing this in the first place, right?<br /><br />"...S-sankyuu," Mako ventures hopefully in reply.<br /><br />Ami may have her work cut out for her in this.
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