to my closed self (closed to ~lavidamoca)

[tsuganai]

Moca doesn't live that far away from Ran's home, but it's rather astounding how much further everything seems in a thunderstorm. It's a late spring cloudburst, one that fit the tempestuous fight she'd had with her father. He'd told her that if she didn't want to inherit the Mitaki school of flower arranging, she could leave.

She'd left.

There's only one place she could really go, after a confrontation like that. One place where no matter what, she feels safe.

Soaked to the bone and throughly waterlogged, Ran knocks on the door to Moca's home. She doesn't know if the other girl is even here. Maybe she's out. Maybe she's doing something Moca-y. Maybe she's at work.

But where else can she go?

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[lavidamoca]

It's the kind of afternoon that makes Moca especially glad she's in the going-home club. Afterglow doesn't have practice today, and she doesn't have work either -- which means despite neglecting to check the forecast, she managed to make it home unscathed, before the rain could start.

Man, it's bad out there right now. Good thing inside it's nice and warm. She’s just been messing around on her phone under the living room kotatsu, but she's half a mind to put it away and just take a good long nap...

A knock on the door interrupts her from her thoughts. Sleepy-cozy as she is, her first instinct is to ignore it -- but then it occurs to her most people don't go around knocking on house's doors in this weather unless they have good reason to.

Begrudgingly pushing up onto her feet, she drags herself to the front door, and pulls it open. The sight that greets her has her instantly snapping to alertness, eyes blinking rapidly to rid themselves of sleepiness.

"Ran?" What happened stands on the edge of her tongue, but she swallows it back. Conversation can wait until Ran's not in risk of hypothermia. "Ah, geez... get in here, get in here."

Grabbing her by the back of her shirt, she ushers her inside, and shuts the door behind her. Ran leaves a small river in her path; even when she's taken off her shoes, her socks are soaked through, dragging wet trails over the hardwood floor.

Ah, geez.

"You wanna take a bath or something? Or just a towel and change of clothes?"

[tsuganai]

Moca asks what happened, and Ran answers the only thing that immediately comes to her lips. "It's raining," she says by way of explanation. While not technically incorrect, it's also a very, very useless thing to say.

She's soaked, so please give her a little slack, Moca.

Ran offers no resistance as Moca tugs her inside by the scruff of her shirt like a particularly bedraggled kitten. Her shoes are soaked and her socks just as much, so much so that she eventually even steps out of them, pinning the wet fabric with her feet and wrenching the other foot free. Even going barefoot, though, she's still dripping.

When she's safely inside, she adds, "my father and I had a fight." It's not much, but it doesn't have to be. Moca will understand.

She glances to the side. "I think just some dry clothes will be all right. I won't impose."

[lavidamoca]

Ran offers more information than she was expecting her to, and it's all that Moca needs to hear, really. She sighs, a familiar weight settling into her chest -- that sense of wanting to help Ran, but not knowing how.

Well. She can start by drying her up, at least.

"You couldn't impose on me even if you tried, y'know," she says, but accepts Ran's answer. "Get under the kotatsu, I'll go get the stuff."

Moca disappears doen the hall, swifter than her usual laid-back amble, and returns a few moments later with a bundle of clothing and towels in her arms. Her warmest pajamas (they're fluffy and purple and have little pompoms dangling from the neck), woolly socks, and three thick towels. Just to be safe.

"That should do it," she declares, and drops the stack unceremoniously onto the top of the kotatsu.

[tsuganai]

It's a little late in the season to still have a kotatsu out, Ran thinks, even as she settles underneath it, trying not to drip too much on the carpet but not really having much control over that at all.

"It's a little late to still have a kotatsu out," Ran says to Moca as her friend returns bearing gifts, but she reaches up to take them, a genuinely grateful expression on her face. "...thank you."

The first towel goes on the floor beneath her. The second, she tugs around her shoulders, to stem the dripping. The third, she starts squeezing around her hair, trying to dry as much as she can while still seated.

When she's satisfied with that, she lets the towel fall for the time being, looking at the pajamas. They're very Moca, which means they're very not her. She's also not going to refuse her friend's generosity. "I'll go change in the bathroom, then," she says, working her way out from underneath the kotatsu.

((ooc: I forgot to ask! Do you have like, a rating in mind for this thread? I'm fine with PG fluff, PG13 innuendo or even some R-rated stuff if that's what you were interested in! Just wanted to make sure we're on the same page~))

[lavidamoca]

"Well, maybe I could tell with my Moca-sense that a certain someone will be needing it today, hmmm?" That, and it makes for a good napping spot. No real reason to put it away, as far as she’s concerned. It's fine like this.

She watches Ran towel off for a moment, studies the way the rainwater drains from her matted black hair. It then occurs to her she could be making better use of this time, so she shuffles off into the kitchen, setting a kettle of water to boil before returning to take a seat under the kotatsu, too.

"Awww, you don't have to be shy," Moca drawls, a hint of a grin tugging on her features. "It's nothing I haven't seen before, after all."

[tsuganai]

Ran glances up at Moca as she says a very Moca-like thing. Sometimes, she finds what she says just to be annoying, but there are times when it's almost comforting, too.

...this is one of those times. She almost smiles. She doesn't smile, admittedly, but her mouth twitches upwards. A little. "Maybe you could," she says.

Moca's teasing, though, does make her cheeks visibly turn dark with flight. "I'm dripping everywhere," she points out. "It's better if I get changed there. I'm not being shy."

She's being a little shy.

Ran stands up, wrapping the towel around her, and grabs the offered pajamas. "It's all right if I hang these up in there, Moca?"

[lavidamoca]

Moca chuckles through a shake of her head. It's not like Ran needed an excuse to reject her dumb joke-proposal, but it's kind of cute that she came up with one, anyway.

"Mm, you can just stick it in the dryer while you're there, it'll go faster."

By the time Ran returns, there'll be tea set out atop the kotatsu, and some snacks, too. Those dark chocolate chip cookies Ran likes, and some butter cookies, because Moca doesn't really care for bitter stuff.

Sitting half-sprawled over the wooden surface, she pats the spot beside her under the kotatsu. Not the one opposite to her; the same side. "Go on, get in."

[tsuganai]

It's not the first time she's changed in Moca's bathroom, though it is the first time she's done it in a long time. The last time she remembers, they'd both been much younger, she'd been spending the night, and they'd just taken a bath together.

It's a fond memory of hers, honestly, and she takes a moment midway through changing to stop and smile to herself.

It's weird that Moca had jokingly (?) told her that she could change out there, isn't it? It's a little weird. Then again, Moca is a little weird, but for a moment, Ran starts to let herself wonder... no, she shouldn't. Moca's just being Moca. It doesn't do anyone good to get her hopes up.

She tosses her soaked clothes and underwear in the dryer, enjoying the warm, soft pajamas she's been given. She feels so much more whole like this. When she comes out, she sees the tea, she sees the snacks, and she sees her friend patting the ground. Without a word, Ran moves to sit next to Moca, sliding her legs into the blissful heat under the kotatsu. "These are new pajamas, aren't they? I don't remember seeing you wear them before. They're warm."

"Oh, those are the cookies I like."

Moca can be very thoughtful, when she wants to be.