Most of the time when Kyouko wants to train (it's not really 'working out' in her mind), she goes to the gym. They have proper facilities and mats and pads and stuff. Today though, it's cold out. And it's a lot easier to just step out onto the roof of the building and do it there, mere feet away from warmth and hot cocoa rather than a walk or subway ride.
This is why on this particular mid-day, she is out on said roof, in the area where the barbecue was held a few months before. It's open enough, and while yes, it is very chilly, it's also convinient. She is not in henshin, but rather wearing a tight workout top and leggings and sneakers. She had a pole, basically a quarterstaff, that she's using as a stand-in spear.
Her breath huffs out in little white clouds as she spins and whirls with the pole, spinning it about and mixing in some kicks and jabs and other flashy manuvers- too flashy, its likely, to be much use in actual combat but good for training because they tend to require a greater range of motion and effort.
It's cold. It's cold enough that leggings and a workout top are not /actually/ warm enough for being outside if one is not pretty much constantly in motion. Even so, as Naru comes to the roof door, there's a couple of travel mugs and /she/ is wearing a hoodie, even if she's got leggings on.
"There's tea, if you want a warm up." Naru notes as she lingers to watch a few moments. Kyouko doing flashy moves is a delight to watch, henshin or not.
Kyouko is actually working up a decent sweat, despite the temperatures, though she'd likely start shivering almost immidiately if she stopped the constant motion. Puella also tend to have a higher-than-mortal tolerance for temperature extremes, due to being all undead and stuff, but higher-than-mortal is not the same as 'immune' so it's safe to say that Naru's appearance with the mugs is a welcome one.
Throwing in a few more last kicks and a whirl of her staff, Kyouko comes to a rest, chest heaving as she catches her breath. "Whew.. oh.. thanks Naru-chan." She says, with a little grin, as she trots over towards the door, resting the pole against the wall just outside of it before shooing Naru inside so she can follow and only then taking the tea. Even those few moments crossing to the door have her starting to shiver a little bit, though she seems fine once the door shuts.
She blows on the tea a few times and then takes a sip. "Mmm.. that's the stuff. Glad you came up when ya did, I was just about done anyway."
Naru didn't look especially cold, even if she is more dressed and wasn't working out. She does look pleased enough to be going back inside, though, cold or not.
She smiles as she passes over an insulated mug of tea. "You make it look graceful and easy, which I /know/ is all skill and not because it's actually easy in any way. Not feeling like the gym today?" She asks as they head down the stairs back into the apartment proper.
Kyouko traipses down the stairs after Naru, sipping from the tea. "Well, skill by certain definitions of the word." Kyouko says, with a self-deprecating chuckle, as they pass back into the apartment.
She deposits her tea on a countertop for a moment as she heads towards the nearest bathroom. "Gym is too far, and its cold. I can stay here and be cold and still workout, so I figured that was smarter." She vanishes into the bathroom, the sound of water running drifts out, and a few moments later she re-emerges, her face washed and looking generally less sweaty. She reclaims her tea and moves to flop onto one of the couches.
"God I hate winter, though."
"This? Not so bad." Naru notes thoughtfully, with a yeasty smell coming from the kitchen along the the tea smell, and some sort of chicken broth something. Naru clearly was cooking while Kyouko was working out. "I hated running in the snow, though. Like.. to the point where I just didn't and I learned that treadmills suck more. So do stationary bikes. Pool was not bad. Better choice than the treadmill,that's for sure."
"Yeah well, you never had to scrounge for firewood in a building without a roof in order to not freeze to death." Kyouko remarks, with a mild shake of her head, then snorts. "Actually I don't think that's the first time I've played that card against you, so sorry.. I hate it when people think I'm fishing for pity."
She sips the tea again, glancing out the window at the cold but thankfully clear December sky. "Almost Christmas, I guess." She sound almost surprised, as if this is some sort of revelation.
"Yep, you've used that card." Naru agrees with a flicker of a smile. "Although seems reasonable you might have two or three of those ones in your deck. Although I pre-emptively call foul on you trying to pull the 'uphill both ways to school in the snow', as I'm the one who goes to school."
Naru curls up in a corner of the couch, settling with her tea as she lets the magic in the kitchen take some time to work its magic. "Almost. Ten days. I'll be glad for a break from school, even if there really shouldn't be a break from studying for me."
"Two or three sounds right, as that was the amount of years I hadda do it." Kyouko says, with a mildly rueful chuckle, shaking her head slightly as she warms her hands on the tea before taking another sip. "Hey, I used to go to school you know." Before all her troubles started, anyway, which means not for four or five years at least.
She looks mildly pensive at the thought of Christmas in ten days. "I'd like to do something for the people I care about this year. Last year I wasn't really in a position to do much, yet, but now I am. I almost forgot though.. it's not something I'm used to having to worry about."
"How about I'll just trump it with oen of my own." Naru asks with a smile. "My deck's teeny, I really only got the uphill both ways to school card."
Naru mmms softly at the notion of Christmas. "What sort of something? Is this a 'we should go shopping' notion, or a 'we should bake cookies' notion?"
"I guess I can let you have that one. And hey, you're doing a fair job of building up your own deck o' complaints, you just got started a little later than I did." Kyouko grins lopsidedly.
She shrugs then, at the question of what exactly she would like to do for Christmas. "I dunno.. it's.. not something I've thought about at all, which now suddenly seems like a problem. I'm not much of a baker, as you probably know by now, and having you bake cookies for me to give to people doesn't really seem like it's in the spirit of things, though."
"It's hard to be /super/ grumpy about my complaints, cause I'm kinda fond of where its gotten me." Naru points out. "Although some experiences, I'll be glad to never do again. Once was /plenty/."
Naru mmms softly. "I'm not baking them for you, but I'd be willing to help. Decorating? All yours." She pauses a moment. "I bet I could probably draw any cookie cutters we might want. Is that silly? To use my magic for cookie cutters?"
Kyouko laughs softly and raises the mug. "I'll toast to that. It's okay to be happy with the results even if you weren't happy with the process. Believe me, that's somethin' I've had to embrace."
She grins. "Hey, it's your magic. Use it however you want. As long as you're not hurting anybody else to do it, I don't see why you should worry about it, and as far as I know your magic isn't fueled by the blood of little puppies or anything, so I think you're safe."
She quirks her lips. "I'm still not sure though, I might want to go shopping. I feel like nii-chan would appreciate a book, although a book on what I dunno, I feel like the titles of the stuff he reads are in foreign languages."
Naru lifts her mug in salute with a grin and then quirks her head. "I.. have no clue how to fuel my magic, if I'm going to be perfectly honest. I had trouble with it being mostly gone when I was being drained in my sleep, but now I really don't use it much, so I don't actually /think/ about how to get more if I need. Hmm." She furrows her brow, thoughtful, and no doubt adds that to The List. "But at least so far, I haven't seemed to have an unreasonable desires for puppy blood, so I expect it's relatively benign at least."
"Um.. about half the time they /are/ in foreign languages." Naru points out with a little laugh. "I can usually get as far as knowing what each word means in the title, but how they fit together? Not so much, no. We could go shopping together, see if two of us have better luck choosing something than just one?"
"Well," Kyouko says with a shrug, "Most likely you just have a natural reserve of magic and if you use too much it'll exhaust itself and you won't be able to use any more until you rest. That's how most seem to work. Usually if your magic is bein' fueled by something outside yourself, you'd figure it out pretty quick."
She blinks at the mention of Kunzite's book titles. "Well, that would explain it then." She laughs a little. "I'd love it if you'd come with me.. maybe we could find something for Mamoru too. And Zo-nii. And Neph-nii. And Momo. And Usagi." She starts ticking off names on her fingers.
"I expect you're right." Naru nods on the natural reserve. "As I didn't do anything special, other than stop actively /losing/ it, and I seem to be well enough for having magic when I need now. Not that do much with it. I've only barely worked out how to transform without having to trick myself into it."
Naru grins. "I'll help you shop if you help me decorate cookies. Seem like a fair deal?"
Kyouko finishes the last of the tea, toying with the empty mug in her hand as she chuckles. "Oh, I see. Well fine, but I get to eat cookies after I help you decorate them. That's the tax."
She gets up, stretching briefly before heading over to deposit the mug in the kitchen and examine what's cookin' while she does so. "I admit, I've never been very good at shopping either. Lack of experience, y'see."
"You don't get to eat all of them, but half the /point/ of decorating cookies is to eat the deformed ones." Naru agrees with a little laugh.
The kitchen has a chicken stew dish bubbling on the stove, and bread dough rising in the turned off oven, out of any draughts. Naru's voice follows Kyouko into the kitchen, even if Naru herself doesn't. "I have one word to describe my shopping experinces. Usagi."
Cup safely deposited in the sink, Kyouko returns to the living room munching on one of the apples left on the counter in perpetual tithe. She sits back down, chewing thoughtfully for a moment. "Well, I don't think I can offer half the excitement of going shopping with Usagi, but at the very least I won't know enough to complain about your methods." She says after swallowing, with a grin.
"But will you change your mind 18 thousand times and ensure we go back into the same store three times just to 'visit it again'?" Naru asks with a laugh and a shake of her head, her tone utterly fond. "Because I'm okay if we skip that bit for a change. It is fun to watch her get delighted by things, though. I can't argue there." She leans over to set her own tea down on the table, not quite done yet, and collect up her sketchbook.
"So books for Kunzite, any thoughts on what for the rest?" By how Naru has dug out a pencil, it seems likely that she might even be working out a /plan/.
"I can only promise sixteen-thousand." Kyouko says, wryly. "But I'll do my best to make sure you don't get bored.
Kyouko eyes Naru and her sketchbook, somewhat wary of plans, as they never tend to serve her very well, but she doesn't protest. Instead, she considers. "I want to get some kind of plushie or stuffed toy for Momo. I think she'd like one Dog hasn't been chewing on. Um.. I'm not sure about the rest, honestly.." She's clearly thinking though, her eyes wandering.
"Ooh, plushie sounds great." Naru agrees on that, making a note on her page. She's clearly not /only/ making a shopping plan, and she's hardly enforcing it upon Kyouko. She's just not as good about keeping it entirely in memory as the other half of the K'team might be.
"Might be a case of roaming until we find something that screams their name." Naru pauses and then giggles. "And then once we've kicked /that/ in the shins, buying something else."
Kyouko giggles too, which is not a sound that she makes very often but apparently Naru's joke caught her off guard. She covers her mouth with her hand a moment later as if to stuff the rebelliously-feminine sound back inside. "Mmm, maybe." It's not that Kyouko has a great memory or anything- more that she prefers to operate on the 'I'll know it when I see it' strategy, which is what Naru is mostly suggesting anyway.
Kyouko giggles are a rare and delightful thing, and make Naru smile to hear them. She just sketches, the swoop of her pencil clearly not much of a shopping plan, unless they're planning on becoming birds for the experience. "When do you want to go shopping? Tomorrow? The weekend is likely to be silly busy, but I don't know when your work shifts are."
"I can make time whenever." Kyouko says, with a shrug of her shoulders. "I mean, I work later today and tomorrow morning, but tomorrow evening or late afternoon works. Usually there's some part of any given day I can make it work, so tell me when is best for you." She sighs, leaning back and chewing through the rest of her apple. "I guess gettin' it done sooner rather than later would be smart, anyway."
"Sooner rather than later means that there's more selection." Naru agrees and she laughs. "Also gives time for the revisiting the store three or four times, as you think of more things, or different things and means that when it seems likely that obnoxious people are going to start losing limbs for being in the way, there's time for a pastry break to recover some zen. Christmas shopping isn't for wimps."
Kyouko bites her apple core in half and then eats it, as is her habit, never wasting a scrap. Then she places the back of her hand over her forehead in a mock-fainting-spell. "Oh, Naru-chan, Christmas Shopping is the greatest challenge I've ever faced as a magical girl! But surely together we can overcome it!"
She snickers, sitting up straight again a moment later. "Naru-chan, anything with a pastry break is something I will be happy to do. Are you leaning how to manipulate me?" A suspicious eye is cast at the other girl.
"You laugh." Naru points a pencil at Kyouko and she starts to grin. "But by the end of a day of stressed out retail shoppers and staff, you are going to be /begging/ for a nice deadly fight to get into." She quirks her head. "Which, I suppose, would be a Christmas gift to you.. but still. My point stands."
Naru laughs and shakes her head. "Only in that I had the wherewithall to label it a pastry break and not the coffee break that /I/ require to survive Christmas shopping." Or possibly she might be leaning towards a 'yes'.
"Naru-chan, I'm always beggin' for a nice deadly fight to get into." Kyouko says, laughing as Naru goes on to say it would be a Christmas gift to her. "Yep.. if you can find somebody for me to stab, preferably somebody who deserves it, you'll never see a happier girl around the holidays."
She rolls her eyes slightly. "Eh, what's the sense in goin' out to buy things for everybody else if you can't treat yourself just a little on the way?"
"I will do my level best to be bait for you for Christmas." Naru grins with a wink. "Think tasty thoughts, and ensure I've got your number on speed dial." She laughs softly, confident in this teasing, based on the current disuse of the 'Its been X days since Naru got chewed on' poster on the fridge.
"Worst part of holiday shopping. Finding all sorts of things that /you/ want and nothing for other people." Naru grins. "Although I find that does get easier when I leave the art store."
Kyouko laughs again, getting up from her seat a moment later and crossing the distance to throw arms around Naru and give her a brief squeeze. "No! Bad Naru-chan. I will not have you getting attacked on Christmas, do you hear me? I forbid it." She releases the girl a moment later, sitting up on the arm of the couch.
"Eh, I'm not too worried about that. Honestly there's not that much I do want, other than.. y'know, food and a warm place to sleep, which thankfully I somehow managed to snag this year."
"Not even with jingle bells? How about a bow?" Naru asks as she gives Kyouko a squeeze in return and laughs softly. "I suspect I'm probably safe, and will have to come up with something /else/ to give you for Christmas."
Naru leans lightly against Kyouko as she settles on the arm of the couch. "And for many years to come too. But that's the fun of Christmas, and presents in generally really. The luxury of having those needs covered, so you can indulge a little on the 'would be nice' stuff."
"I'll allow you to put on bells and a bow but only for my amusement and not for monsterbait." Kyouko says, then pauses, a mild flush coming to her cheeks before she adds, "Don't read too much into that." Then laughs.
She smiles at Naru's comment about 'many years to come'. "Well, I hope so anyway. I try not to think too hard about the future and just take each days as it comes. But I wouldn't be against some 'would be nice' stuff, I guess. I suppose the benefit of not really wanting anything is being open to good surprises."
Naru can't help but giggle at Kyouko's addition, a flush touching her cheeks as well. "Well I /suppose/."
Naru stretches out her legs and mmms softly. "We covered the whole 'one day at a time thing." She gestures with her pencil laden hand. "All the pressure of finding /good/ surprises. I don't have inspiration on everyone yet, I have to admit."
Kyouko sighs absently. "I talk to you too much, Naru, I'm usin' up all my deep philosophy and all my 'tougher than you' cards. Soon I'm gonna have to actually say what I think, and then we'll be in major trouble."
Perched on the arm of the couch next to Naru, Kyouko leans back against it and watches the girl drawing. She finds it mildly fascinating, simply because it is something which is very far outside of her own skillset.
"Oh noes. Actually saying what you think. However will I survive." Naru manages that in a suitably deadpan voice, as she watches her drawing rather than clasping her hand to her chest with what clearly should be the appropriately dramatic reaction to such a shocking notion. Clearly.
The drawing emerging from her page is clearly from memory, figures ice skating, probably from one of the festive rinks sponsered from the holidays in the city. It doens't have the oomph of a magically enhanced drawing, but even without magic, Naru's art is pretty damn good. "Have you ever been skating?"
"You say that now, but it's actually pretty scary. Just ask nii-chan. Do you think his hair was always white?" Kyouko smirks. Of course it was, but maybe Naru doesn't know that, so she can make outrageous claims.
At the question of skating, she shrugs, watching the figures emerging from the page. "Well, I've had to traverse ice in a variety of ways and for a variety of purposes, but just going skating for the fun of it? No, not really."
"I'm going to blame the four boys he's endured so far for the white hair, although you can get partial credit." Naru glances up at Kyouko and grins, not buying it any more than she did earlier, but willing to tease.
Her attention resettles onto what she's doing and there's a soft little mmm. "I've never either, to be honest. It does look like fun."
Kyouko slides off of the couch-arm and down onto the seat next to Naru, squirming until she displaces the other girl enough to wedge herself between her and the arm of the couch. Much like a cat, she finds this suitable given the fact that it's cold out. She eyes the sketch some more.
"Well it's not like either of us can just 'make crap appear out of thin air', its kind of hypocritical for us to complain about not doing something if it looks like fun."
There's some squirming and some hip bumping as Naru at least puts up a token 'fight' not to be displaced from the corner of the couch. Of course the 'retaliation' of not giving Kyouko any more room than she precisely needs is possibly not all that much in the way of retaliation, especially when it's cold out.
It does mean that Kyouko gets gently nudged by Naru's arm as she draws. "I know right? Although I'm pretty sure I cannot draw an entire ice rink of people and have it come to life." Naru starts adding festive holiday details, lights in the trees. No transformation, so they don't twinkle. Currently. "I could probably draw us skates, though. Much like the cookie cutters, it seems silly to draw skates when I can just go rent them for a few yen."
Kyouko seems comfortable with a tiny corner of couch, and doesn't even mind getting elbow-bumped as Naru continues to draw. It's warm and comfy, and especially after training outside in the cold, it starts to make her eyes droop a little bit as her head leand back against the corner of the couch.
"It'd be pretty scary if you could draw people and have them come to life, so I'm kinda glad for that." She says, still watching the scene develop through slitted eyes. "And I dunno.. cookie cutters you might not be able to find in the shape you want. Skates you can probably find."
It is warm and comfy and relaxed and cosy, all at once and Naru doesn't seem to be in a rush to move. No droopy eyes, though, she's got a drawing to work on. "City scene, or woodland pond?" The trees and skaters are free on the page as yet, could go either way, and apparently Naru is taking requests.
"I was terrified of that, when I started. Not people, per se, but animals or creatures. I'm still not sure that I can't, to be honest." Naru murmurs softly, thoughtfully. "Cookie cutters would be easy enough. Skates? I fear they'd never fit right. Still, we should go skating. See who else wants to go, so that there's more distractions from me spending most of the time on my butt."
That's okay, Kyouko will gladly let Naru continues to work and be droopy-eyed enough for tbe both of them. "City, for sure." She says, her tone subdued. She's a city gal, after all, wildnerness makes her nervous.
"Animals are one thing.. people would be somethin' else entirely." She says, with a shrug that Naru feels as much as sees. Then she smirks just a little. "Aw, c'mon. I'm sure you wouldn't be that bad."
Naru smiles as she starts to sketch in buildings rather than more trees around the rink, adding a low wall along the back rather than a burm of snow. "People would be something else entirely. That would be weird and creepy and .. I think the whole soul thing makes it not a thing I can do. Which is for the best." She leans her head a little against Kyouko, possibly not /entirely/ immune to droopy eyes, but ignoring them in favour of art. "I used to be pretty awful on roller blades, but I suppose that was a few years back, and I'm somewhat more coordinated these days."
Kyouko nods. "Even Puella have souls." She says, mildly amused, though still with her head back in the corner where the side of the couch meets the back and with her eyes half-closed. "Even if they aren't in our bodies."
She then adds, "Maybe your magic will help too. I mean, I know your magic isn't about physical stuff, but you'd be surprised. Not fallin' on your butt might be part of it anyway. Or maybe if you convince yourself it is, it'll work anyway."
"Which is good, it means that I can't draw puella /either/." Naru points out, amusement in her voice. "Which really is already fairly well covered under 'people'."
"It might." Naru agrees with a little nod as she adds another skater, on their butt based on this conversation. "I suspect the sheer amounts of physical training I've done in the last six months is more likely to serve me well though. I'm pretty confident I have never been this fit in my life."
Kyouko idly holds up her hand, eyeing the silver ring which resides on the middle finger of her right hand, the band inscribed with runes and the small, oval red gem glittering in the light. "Well, you can probably draw us, you probably just can't draw us to life.. which is probably for the best. Kyubey wouldn't like the competition."
"Funny thing about finding yourself constantly in danger- tends to be pretty good motivation for getting in shape," Kyouko says, a hint of wry amusement in her voice. "Trust me, I been there."
"True. I can draw nearly anyone, with photo or having met them. Draw them to life? I'm back to cookie cutters." Naru shakes her head a little. "I've never met Kyubey, but I suspect he wouldnt like me much."
Naru laughs softly and nods, the movements felt more than seen. "I remember shortly after I started running. I was so /pleased/ because I thought I had a hope of getting away from the danger, and ... she had a ranged attack and zotted me good with a curse as I ran. Still was damnned handy against the Wraiths the first time, though. Not so much the second time. Still a good idea, even if I'm far better hiding behind you guys who actually do damage."
Kyouko lets her hand fall back down onto her leg after a moment of contemplating the gem in which her soul now resides. It's close enough, she figures.
She picks her head up slightly, eyes opening a bit more as she eyes Naru sideways with a slight grin. "We just need to work on your instincts, Naru-chan. You can dodge ranged attacks too, if you're quick enough. But in general, yes, I think being in shape enough to be effective, fight or flee, is probably a good idea considering our lifestyle."
"It was my first curse, I didn't even know it was a thing or that I should be dodging." Naru chuckles softly as she adds little lines of detail to the skater sitting on the ice, not quite a glint off the blade, but appraoching it. "If I met her again, it would be a different set of expectations." She takes a deep breath and lets it out in a lazy sigh. "None of us are very gooda t the 'flight' side of fight or flight. We run towards the screams."
Kyouko tsks softly. "Well, we all make mistakes when we're newbies." She says, with a mildly teasing tone and maybe just a little more elbow than is stictly necessary given the seating arrangement.
At the latter, she just shrugs, settling back against the cushions again. "Somebody has to. I freely admit to not being as good a person as some of the others around here, though. I'm mostly concerned with keeping the do-gooders alive while they do good."
Naru reponds to that elbowing with an elbow of her own, the drawing pausing for something approximating the laziest, sleepiest toussle /ever/. More like overtired puppies than anything.
"Good by proxy is still pretty good." Naru points out and then adds. "I'm not either, for that matter, and I don't have a past history that might excuse it."
"Meh. You're good enough. At least, I ain't ever seen you hurt anybody on purpose, and that's a good enough definition for me." Kyouko says, in the aftermath of mild couch-tussle.
Anything else that Naru might have to say, though, unless it is within the next few minutes, is lost on the redhead, because it appears that, comfortable and cozy as she is, she dozes off with her head resting back against the corner of the couch, and the next time Naru looks at her, her eyes are closed and her breathing is even.
The quiet stretches as Kyouko dozes off, and Naru continues her drawing. Down to detail work, the sketch has become its own sort of festive winter scene, full of life and playfulness and joy.
It's a comfortable thing, the quiet. All cozy and relaxed and it's not so very long after the silence falls that Naru's pencil stills on the page. Somehow, even in sleep, Naru manages to keep pencil and sketchbook in her lap, leaning lightly on the sleeping puella as naptime claims both of them.