Hearts Like Ours
As roleplayed by
Sirius Baren & Yasashisa no Botan
. . : : . .
Clack.
The sound of wood on wood.
Bent on one knee, he bowed his head and extended his arm. The length of fabric forming his sleeve pooled on the ground and his outstretched hand sent focus away from him and across the floor where another figure stood, clothed no differently than any other woman.
Clack.
The sound of wood to represent the sudden strike of a vicious wind.
And the plain-clothed figure fell with a soft noise; no movement visible amidst the pile of dull hued clothing that marked her.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Three. The closing held the same number as the beginning.
And the clapping began as appreciation of the audience whirled to life in the same way the people had seen the gust overtake the actor representing the common woman. The other actor moved from his bent position and stood, lifting his the pale mask away from his face. He would like to think the clapping grew a little louder when he moved and drew a little attention to himself but he dismissed the thought as simply wishful.
Without a word, he followed the other actor off-stage. Backstage was all noise. Here and there, color costumes were scattered amidst the more plain, common ones: actors with friends or new fans gained from the citizens of a new town. A minute smile tugged at a corner of his mouth. It was fortunate this town was so eager to show gratitude for the shows.
The lead actress apparently hadn’t had enough time to change from her plain costume since she stood there in it still as she spoke to the group around her, a smile flicking across her face briefly as exchanging places with open-mouthed laughter.
Turning from the sights, he placed his mask down. The black-eyed mask almost seemed to look back up at him from the contents of the half-filled trunk where it all. The white color under the black markings still made it noticeable even if the crack through the center looked as if it was growing wider.
“Your crane was splendid, Tsurukou.” A woman with a head-full of gray hair said as she approached him.
At her appearance and comment, he bent at the waist and offered her a bow, “Thank you.”
A couple words said, he pulled the tie loose from his waist and retracted his arms from the sleeves of the white kimono that had marked him as a crane. Once off, the garment was placed aside and he went to smoothing out the plain clothing the costume had been covering.
“Hello my friend.”A voice and startling hearty clap on the back announced the arrival of a friend. The new arrival looked around in what was an apparently unsuccessful search: “No fangirls vying for attention? What a shame.”
“You’d only want to talk to them yourself.” Tsurukou said easily.
“How well you know me.” Said the other young man, feigning being offended. “Now what if I was here to tell you about your good acting?”
“But you’re not.”
“Alright, I’m not.”
“What a shame.” The same little smile playing with a corner of his mouth earlier chose to reappear then.
“I can only compliment perfection so many times, Tsurukou.” The other commented with a wearied sigh.
“No, Hide.” Tsurukou spoke quickly though still in his quiet way, “I still have much to work on.”
“Tsurukou. In all seriousness. You know I don’t call something perfect if…“ Hide trailed off. “Well damn.”
Hearing the profanity, Tsurukou simply shook his head, not missing a beat. The change in his friend’s tone was all too familiar. He simply went
about straightening his clothing and checking his reflection briefly before he commented, “Is Ms. Nishikawa backstage to talk to the actors again?”
A certain young lady in the unfamiliar town had taken to watching the plays the troupe put on. It was the last day of the week-long performance schedule thus it would not be surprising to see the girl backstage again.
“Forget Nishikawa.”
The hand that had been smoothing out Tsurukou’s collar paused as he wondered. Though, there was only just a moment to wonder before he found himself turned around after his friend had decided to make sure they could both see the girl Hide was talking about. He didn’t have to peer through little crowd. There she was. The ornate, deep maroon kimono gave away her class first and that was perhaps the strangest to begin with. And the light hair spilling over her shoulders like sunlight was only another clue. She wasn’t Japanese but the fact certainly didn’t make her any less beautiful. In fact- His friend’s low whistle brought him reluctantly from his reverie.
“There’s one girl I wouldn’t mind-“
“Hide.” He interrupted, causing the named one to look at him in surprise. It was not everyday Tsurukou cut him off. “Don’t be crude.”
“It’s not like she’ll know that much Japanese.”
Tsurukou fostered a stern look at his friend. Unfortunately, Hide laughed almost instantly but in the end agreed: “I will keep my comments to myself. This time anyway.”
“Let’s get going. There’s much to pack up before everyone heads home.”