Savannah Fukui's dorm (Private | Mature)

Savannah's eyes were locked on hers as her hands moved. It seemed as though Savannah was physically reading something as she stared at the girl. She didn't speak for a few moments, and when she did, her tone was even and emotionless. "How much of an advantage?"

Beyril sat down her food, and wrung her hands around a napkin to clean them off. She leaned back in her seat, hands on the surface of the table. There was a confidence and straightforward look in her eyes, "A great deal of one. I'm light. Less weight to hold me down. Speed coupled with a small frame makes me hard to hit. My brain is always racing. I take in a hundred different things at once. Don't mistake my happy-go-lucky attitude for ignorance. I know more than you think. That life is behind me now, and if you've come to talk me into smuggling something for you or taking out a target, know that my answer is no."

Savannah's eyes continued to stare, continued to read and observe, taking in everything from her pitch to her demeanor and posture. She didn't say a word for a long while, but a slow, approving and appraising smile slid onto her face after a time. The meister offered nothing more than a nod, eyes lingering on the girl beside her for a moment longer before she proceeded to finally eat her own food.

Beyril chuckled, pulling her legs up under her once more as her usual happy smile retook it's place and she ate some more, "Also, tell Akira that he's getting more lax with his security on his hacking. It only took me five hours to trace it back to him last time. He's getting slow."

Savannah laughed aloud, shaking her head and setting her utensils down to bring a napkin to her face. "I attract the strangest company, don't I?"

Beyril chuckled, "Indeed. A Japanese protege who's bound in honor to your service, and an ex-assassin and drug smuggler for the biggest crime syndicate in the city? And that's to say nothing of your ex-lovers..."

Savannah's face flushed without her realizing it and she smiled softly, "Well, if nothing else, I have some brilliant people at my side."

"Brilliant minds attract brilliant minds." she shrugged, "But, I'm sure you know that."

Savannah shrugged, "Are you busy this week?" The words seemed to come out of nowhere as she ate, her focus on the food rather than the girl beside her.

"Not particularly. Work, as usual. They've cut hours again, so I'm trying to sort out where I'm coming up with the rest of this month's rent, but it's simply another day in the life for me." She shook her head, plucking at the fallen bits of food from her now-absent tacos. "And I thought about training some with Helmut."

"Think you could spare some time?" Even as Savannah said the words, she was working through her phone on a quick bank transfer. "Akira and I are going to my parents' place for the week. I..." She cleared her throat as she went through her email, typing one out to Beyril's boss and then another to the girl's landlord. "I... would like you to join us." The words sounded timid, almost hesitate as she spoke them, using her typing as an excuse to not look at the apparently very hungry girl beside her. Without looking, she reached a hand out and pushed the remainder of her food over for Beyril to eat.

Beyril raised a brow, not questioning as she took the remainder of the food, "I could, if I needed to. Though I find it interesting that you'd want me to meet your family. I'm clearly quite unstable. Nor do I know a single thing about Japanese customs. I'd be very likely to offend simply on accident."

Savannah waved her hand dismissively before finishing up her tasks and putting her phone away. "My parents will not mind so much. As traditional as they are, they are not quite so easily offended by outsiders when they know that it is merely ignorance that causes them to offend. You won't be judged." She smiled at her, a genuine, inviting gesture. "Besides... they've... never met a friend of mine. I want the first one to be you."

Beyril nearly dropped the last bit of her taco out of her mouth at the last statement, working quickly and awkwardly to attempt to compose herself, "Uh... me..?" was all she could squeak out, pointing timidly at herself.

Savannah smiled, though the expression was shaky and timid. She nodded slowly, eyes searching Beyril fervently, her eyes darting around almost frantically. "Yes... you."

Beyril wiped her hands on her legs, shaking a bit, "Okay..." she nearly whispered.

Savannah grinned before looking down at her lap. She pulled her phone back out, bringing up her text messages and sending one to her body guard.

Aijin: Beyril's coming with us. :)

Beyril chuckled, slowly resuming eating.

It took unusually long for Akira to respond.
Petto: A smiling face? You don't use those. Regardless, I finished my business. I'm outside when you're ready.

Savannah didn't even check the message when she received it, but she was already gathering her things and getting ready to throw away the things that Beyril was actually finished with. She waved to Beyril before gesturing to the bathroom and holding up a hand to indicate that she'd be out in five minutes.

Beyril smiled and nodded, waiting patiently for Savannah to finish.

She locked the bathroom door from the inside as soon as she confirmed that the stalls were empty. This done, she practically ripped her purse off, flinging it onto the counter and bracing her hands on the sink. Her arms were shaking, her eyes practically glazed over as her mind whirled. Her fingers didn't move, and aside from the tense trembling shooting through her, she wasn't either. Her mind was struggling to catch up and keep up with the recent chain of events, from the formal to last night to today. Nothing made sense right now; nothing seemed logical or reasonable. She could practically feel the world falling apart around her, and the deep, almost ghostly and forced breaths she was taking appeared to be evidence of an oncoming panic attack or mental breakdown.

Outside, Beyril sat and fidgeted with her hands. Another buzz came from Savannah's phone.

Petto: Are you coming out? If you need time I can wait. Do I need to come in?

She didn't even hear the phone. Her mind was elsewhere, scrambling and drowning in a sea of facts and raw information as her body stood relatively frozen. Her eyes were still open and she didn't seem to notice as they begun to dry out. Savannah hadn't move; it had been nearly fifteen minutes already and it felt like mere seconds to her.

There was still no response, though Savannah's body suddenly sprang into action. She reached for her bag, attempted to put it on, and then flung it at the mirror in a fit of frustrated rage. It shattered the glass on contact and she stumbled to the floor, curling into a ball, arms folded over her knees. The meister didn't even realize that tears were falling, but she was bawling into her arms, sobs raking through her body. It was one thing for her to give in to her lustrous desires; she did that all the time. It was another thing to talk to someone, to help them financially. That was no longer anything new either.

But she had made a friend out of someone that had only originally spoken to her because she happened to be in the hallway at the time. She'd never had a friend before, never had someone that wanted to hang out with her simply because of who she was, not what or what she had, in any sense of the word.

She had danced with, kissed, and slept with her arranged marriage fiance, and something about waking up in his arms that morning had begun to stir something inside her. She could not pinpoint what, could not explain the sense of security or comfort that stemmed from being so close to him when they'd awoken.

And to top it all off, she was going to be spending at least the next week at home. She could handle her siblings, loved to be around them, to see them grow and to learn what she had missed when she was away. Her mother, she was impartial to; she was too weak, to tenderhearted and allowed the world to cave in around her without doing anything more than being flexible and bending to ease the journey for everything else. Her father, however, was judgmental, hard, and would not let her get away with so much as looking in the wrong direction for a fraction of a second.

There was something about the last fact, the fact that she was leaving the next day, combined with all of the stress and confusion that she was now facing, that made everything seem so much worse.