when love comes calling, don't look back

[coronated]

Characters: Utena and Mami
Date: During the mistletoe event
Summary: The best way to make things between a friend less awkward is to make out with them! Oh wait.
Warnings: None

Comments

[headedforhope]

[Utena isn't alone in her wanderings or her confusion, comfortless as that likely is

[coronated]

[The two songbirds flit over to another tree. Utena catches a flash of green and red on one of the low hanging branches, an unusual splash of color in the otherwise drab and gray scenery, but she pays it little mind. Her focus is wholly on the little birds who sit high above that branch, making a game of passing her ribbon back and forth between them. Her teeth grit; a slow-burning frustration begins to boil over.

She almost darts past Mami, but stops at the sound of her name, freezes and turns around. She begins to smile.]

Oh! Mami-san, I... [But she freezes in mid-greeting, the hand that was beginning to raise in a wave falling at her side. The use of her family name, it seems, has not been lost on her. The smile freezes in place and then disappears. For the first time, Utena's expression is difficult to read. Her hand curls into a loose fist, and she shakes her head.]

I don't need any help. I'm just trying to get my ribbon from those birds. [It looks as if she might say something else, but instead she jogs toward the tree,

[headedforhope]

[She flinches inwardly, and with the twinge of guilt comes a faint surprise. Mami has blunted herself to a great degree, calloused her emotions to make aloofness easier. It seems that she's underestimated how much the progress she's made, slow and difficult as it's been, has defrosted her. But when Utena starts her climb, such thoughts no longer seem important.]

You're- ...wait! [It comes out almost like a plea, as if she was asking Utena for something so much more meaningful than to simply stop. Mami quickly walks over to the tree on legs that don't feel quite steady. It's hard, but somehow she manages to look up at Utena trying to conquer the branches.] Ah, you don't have to do that. There's...I'm sure there's another way... [one hand leans on the trunk as if for support, the other tugging lightly at her scarf - she's imagining her ribbons, enveloping the birds, ribbon and all] ...and I don't want you to fall. They're pretty high up, you know?

[Despite everything, all the embarrassment and unease and that damned tight feeling in

[coronated]

[Utena keeps her wary focus on the birds. They are watching her too, the ribbon hanging in their beaks. The intent, careful expressions strike her as too human, and she is suddenly uneasy about their scrutiny. Still, she continues to climb. A branch groans beneath her weight; she hops to the next. On the ground, Utena moves with a sure-footed agility, but up in the cradle of branches, there is an unusual grace in her movements, the dance of someone accustomed to moving quickly and carefully.

She hears Mami and swallows the first bitter words that come to mind: Why do you care? Instead, she tries to give her some hollow reassurance. There is no need to lash out, she convinces herself. She wonders why she's so angry, anyway.]

I'll be fine! Don't worry!

[She's so close to the birds. The world has compressed, shrunk to this goal, and this one alone. They seem to be waiting for her to move, and she does. Her hand reaches out to grab the ribbbon. She's so close...]

I'm...almost there...

[The branch underneath her feet is too weak to