[thread: notinuniform] a regrettable moment.

[bluebookworm]

"... Mako-chan?" There's a knock on the door to Makoto's bedroom, carefully, before Ami reaches for the handle, then pulls back, then reaches for it again, swallowing.

This is her fault.

... it usually is that way. She's been trying to fix things but she has to accept that nothing is going to change unless she actually does something about

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[notinuniform]

Jupiter pauses at the knock, watching the last of the cuts on her cheek seal itself before wiping the blood away with an alcohol wipe. She drops it in the trashcan and settles down on her bed, detransforming as she does so. "Sure. C'mon in, Ami-chan."

The slight smell of rain and roses might just tell Ami what she'd been doing beforehand, if the pink-tinged wipes in the trash didn't.

[bluebookworm]

The matters of business take priority, regardless; Ami's first question is, "How'd it go out there tonight?" and none of the actual questions on her mind because this is a comfortable place for her to hide in when it's necessary.

"I'm no closer to tracking down who might be trying to purchase American tanks in Japan than I was last night," she adds, since they're on the topic of their individual adventures in breaking the law for all the right (and sometimes wrong) reasons.

[notinuniform]

She smiles and holds out a hand for Ami to take. Sit in her lap? :3? "It went fine. Nothing eventful happened. Rescued a cat from a tree and that's it." Thus, scratches. Cats are magic, of course.

"That's an annoying thing. Usually you'd have them by now, which means someone pretty big's going at it, huh?" Makoto frowns. If she had any of the right connections, she'd break a few heads to figure it all out. Fortunately for the military, she doesn't.

[bluebookworm]

It's probably the first sign that something's gone wrong when Ami elects to stay by the door, instead; there's a brief internal struggle that becomes visible on her face long enough to darken her expression before it resolves itself, for the moment. "What was the cat's name? Was it cute?" She's smiling, even if it doesn't ... entirely reach where it should.

"Someone very big or someone just trying to distract me from something else I ought to be noticing already. I can't shake the feeling that the tanks aren't what they're really after. It's just too obvious a target for someone who's being so troublesome to locate." Ami really has nothing better to do than sit and think about this sort of thing for hours at a time. Someone should tell her to get a life - if only she had the time for it.

[bluebookworm]

Time passes, as time does. For a long while, Ami can't find much use for words, and she suspects it's for much the same reason Makoto can't (get your minds out of the gutter, people): after revelations that heavy, finding the words to say much of anything is a chore.

It's while her face is nestled up close against Makoto's chest that Ami finds herself willing to speak again.

"... we can't keep doing this," she says, and that ... seems to be going somewhere, though it's not entirely clear where, at first glance.

[notinuniform]

Makoto's leaned back on the bed, resting her head on the head board. One hand idly strokes Ami's hair, another's toying with the hem of her shirt, for something to do.

She sighs and closes her eyes when Ami speaks. "You mean letting me shred our relationship and mending it with conversations that we should never have to have?" Makoto takes a lock of Ami's hair, twirling it around a finger. "Yeah. I agree."

[bluebookworm]

"--yes," Ami says, after a long moment spent trying to keep her current train of thought from merrily skipping off its tracks (again). "That ... among other things!"

A pause. "You didn't break it, Mako-chan," she adds, softly. "You never could." Her hand skirts along the edge of Makoto's neckline. "I meant it, earlier ..."

It would help, Ami, if either of you remembered how to say exactly what you meant the first time around, rather than obfuscating the issues like this. But she's not sure how to phrase these things! Especially since living in Japan in the mid-'90s isn't precisely the best time (or place) for two teenage girls to be thinking about the things they're thinking about. Then again, compared to some of the other names they've been called, experiences they've survived, a little social outcast-hood probably doesn't faze either of them all that much. "I think maybe if we could spend more time together, that would be good."

A small, hopeful smile.

[notinuniform]

"Don't you dare imply that you were the one who risked breaking it." It's not a harsh chastisement. If anything, Makoto sounds more fond and tired than angry.

She strokes Ami's head, opening her eyes to smile down at the other girl. "I still say you should grow your hair out." Just to play with it. She doesn't expect any agreement, it's an old argument by now. Something comfortable to resettle her mental tracks with all of these changes going through her head right now. "...More time..." She leans her head back and sighs, thinking. "That would be nice."

There's something niggling at the back of her skull, a half-hoped dream of hers... But she doesn't figure Ami would go for it. It would be too much work, and the room might not be enough, but... "...Ami? How long have we been together?"