[hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/OLdw0ys.png[/img] [img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/b3RmLjEwNi5lMTEwN2MuV205bWFXRWdTM0xEczJ3LjA/future-thor-trial.regular.webp[/img][/center] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/YueL3TS.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/3lqAk2R.png[/img] [/center] [right]Interactions: Kari, Lupe, Elsa [@Evil Ghost Note] [code]Nora’s House > Street Corner > The Warehouse[/code][/right][hr] The crash of glass hitting wood filled the air. A second later, a loud [color=9ACD32][i][b]“sukinsyn”[/b][/i][/color] followed as Nora’s father reacted to his own mistake. He was drunk. Already. Nora knew all too well that he had a good five hours of drinking ahead of him before sleep pulled him to the dreamless abyss. He was sitting in an old reclining chair and had knocked his empty vodka bottle to the ground when he reached for the new bottle right next to it. Once he saw that the fresh bottle was unharmed, he shrugged his shoulders and continued with his march towards an early death. Meanwhile, Nora knew that their mother was right next to him on the couch. She preferred a beer over the vodka, but was hard-pressed to truly care too much what she consumed. As long as the brain rotting tv shows were playing, ones that you could simply turn off the thinking portion of your brain and just exist when the story was spoon-fed to you. The room reflected the mental state of the two, with not a decoration or photo on the four walls. The couch, and chairs, were all old and found at the second hand, second hand, store and had various patchwork fixes to the many dings they’ve seen over the past many decades of existence. Several stubborn stains stuck out like a sore thumb, despite repeated efforts to clean them up. Despite this, the floor was relatively clear. It was easy to see that someone took the time to sweep, mop, and clean up the debris from these nights of drinking. Nora knew all too well that this was going to be their parents' night tonight, but maybe Nora could make theirs better. They closed their door, jumped into their bed, and turned their TV up. Their room was small, no bigger than a large closet in some richer homes. Their bed was small, and it was pressed against the wall to the left of the doorway. To the right, next to the small standalone bathroom door, there was a bookshelf turned into a TV stand. The shelves were filled with various light novels, in order, manga, and comic books. There were a few plushies of their favorite characters tucked into the corners, facing out, and they stood watch over the small room. Next to the bookshelf was a desk, with two shelves above it filled with even more light novels and manga. Across the free spaces on the walls, various posters filled the void. Their bed was also neatly made, with a vibrantly colored blanket that had the faces of the two main characters of their favorite anime strewn across. Under the bed, and as a part of the frame, the various drawers contained every last piece of clothing that they owned. They were packed both neatly and orderly. Nora themself was dressed comfortably. They wore fluffy pajama pants tied at the waist, with an oversized shirt that once again contained an anime character from their favorite anime. As they watched their TV, their phone buzzed again. Nora’s eyes slowly shifted towards the screen, and they saw that it was another message from Ella. A second later, the phone buzzed again, and another message from Ella floated across the screen. Every couple of seconds, a new message popped up, buzzed the frame of their bed, and distracted them from the episode that they were watching. This was fine. If they looked at the messages, Ella would be no doubt able to convince them to get dressed and head out. There was a party somewhere in town that Ella wanted to go to, and they would not accept no for an answer from Nora. Thus, they ignored the message. If they never opened them, they could gain plausible deniability with the lack of the ‘read’ notification. This would allow them to pretend they simply got lost in an anime and never noticed the messages. It was a perfect plan. It was a foolproof plan. It was what they wanted. And nothing would ever change it. [hr] [color=FF00FF]“I can’t believe that you changed my plans,”[/color] Nora pouted as they crossed their arms. Gone were the comfy pajama pants, fuzzy slippers, and cute oversized shirt. In was the jean shorts, converse shoes, and old oversized shirt with some random sports team name across the front. [color=e77fbf]"You totally believe it, cause you’re here!"[/color] Ella squealed, jumping forward and hooking Nora in for a big hug. This involved lifting her smaller friend up into the air and spinning them around before putting them down with a big grin. Here was the corner of the street that was the exact midpoint between both of their houses. It was their meeting spot, even if it wasn’t a very secret one. But that didn’t matter! Ella was as cheerful as normally. She wore a cute, off the shoulder crop top with frilly sleeves and a strawberry design, matching her pastel pink plaid skirt. She had a small, cute and matching shoulder bag. Her makeup was even more vivid than normal, with white eyeliner flicking into hearts on bright pink eyeshadow. The top half of her hair was pulled up into two buns, with the rest falling in neat coils to the bottom of her chin. [color=e77fbf]"[i]Everyone’s[/i] going to be there! Elsa even said she was going to drag Kari along… We’ve barely seen her this summer! I [i]know[/i] I normally say anime is, like, way more important than anything else, but not this! This is a party like [i]in all of our anime[/i], Nora! We get to live a highschool anime!"[/color] Ella continued, hooking her arm into Nora’s and practically dragging her in the direction of the abandoned warehouse. It was a fair walk, but not that bad. [i]Everything[/i] in town was walkable… And neither of them had parents free or caring enough to drive them. A sly grin crossed Nora’s face. Ella was right. This was like the two of them were in a super cute slice of life anime set in a rural, rustic town that had a charm hidden beneath the layer of grime. In those animes there was always that series-defining party that would either be the culmination of the story itself, or set the tone for the rest of the season. Nora knew that for them, it would be the latter. This was needed; their anime could wait. Instead, they returned the hug and jumped up, wrapping their legs around the sides of Ella’s hips, nearly driving their friend off their feet. [color=FF00FF]“Everyone is going to be there to witness the first, and I mean the first, appearance of the most legendary and awesome friend duo! And with our fearless friend Kari, and Elsa, and everyone else there we will be on track to have a great… no, a [i][b]legenry[/b][/i] year that we look fondly on as we grow old together!”[/color] [color=e77fbf]"It’s gonna be [i]magical[/i]!"[/color] Ella grinned, throwing a fist into the air, not having much problem with supporting her friend's whole weight. She only stumbled because the tackle was unexpected, after all! [color=e77fbf]"They aren’t ready! I bet nobody’s expecting us, which means we can make a dramatic entrance! Our junior year is gonna be awesome, Nora, I can already tell… And then senior year will too! Nothing’s gonna ruin our super awesome anime moment, not even all those popular guys who I bet will be shocked we turned up… But a magical girl never lets that kind of thing get to her. It doesn’t matter, anyway, cause there’ll be plenty of good company. Oh, oh, I bet we can take over whatever speaker they’ve got and [i]blast[/i] anime songs!"[/color] [color=FF00FF]“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god what if, and hear me out, what if we hijacked the speaker, [i]blast[/i] either Unravel, or Black catcher, or something like that and [b][i]then[/i][/b] we make our dramatic entrance! It is going to be such an awesome year, Ella, I can feel it in my soul that it will be awesome. And not even that ugly idiot Tyler can ruin it,”[/color] Nora paused as they released their grip on their massive hug and dropped their feet to the ground, [color=FF00FF]“if he tries to ruin it wouldn’t it be so funny if we ruin the night for him instead?”[/color] [color=e77fbf]"We’re only ruining his night with a fist to the face if he decides to be an asshole!"[/color] Ella valiantly declared, brandishing a fist. But she didn’t want to think about something like that. She remembered once when she was younger and cried to her mom about being bullied… Her mom said that bullies were just sad people with their own problems. She had been right that they were sad, and Ella pitied them, though she wouldn’t let them get away with hurting her friends! Just, having fun was more important! [color=e77fbf]"Otherwise, we’re just gonna have the [i]best[/i] time. I think we should go with Unravel! Then Moonlight Densetsu right after! Oh, but how are we gonna put it on for our entrance?! We’d have to go inside to hijack the speaker!"[/color] [color=FF00FF]“My fist is ready to defend you, if your fist is ready to defend me,”[/color] Nora paused as she held her fist up high in the sky, [color=FF00FF]“call me Saitama because I will be like, one punch, man. He’s done.”[/color] Ella tilted her head back and laughed, a bounce in her step as she tugged Nora in the direction they had to go. She didn’t want to be too late! [color=e77fbf]"I’d [i]love love love[/i] to see that! You take him out and I’ll take out whats-his-name… Vicky’s boyfriend! Just one punch before he’s gone for good- Haha, we’ll vanquish all the evil jocks together!"[/color] Still laughing, she grinned. [color=e77fbf]"But first, we gotta get there, and have loads of fun! Show off our dance moves and our great taste in music!"[/color] [hr] [color=FF00FF]“There it is! There our future starts! They are so not ready for the two of us,”[/color] Nora paused as she once again gave her taller friend the biggest hug she could. There was genuine excitement in both her smile and her tone. [color=e77fbf]"By Sailor Moon, they aren’t! I can’t [i]wait[/i] to give Kari the biggest hug ever! And Elsa too, obviously!"[/color] Ella grinned, arms wrapping around Nora to squeeze her tight… Almost too tight. She was stronger than she looked, after all. She was glad her best friend was actually excited now. She knew she’d end up enjoying this! [color=e77fbf]"C’mon, let’s go inside… I can already hear the fun!"[/color] [color=FF00FF]“You come in from the left, and pin her down with your big hug that we all love, and then I will come in from the right and complete it. They will be so surprised to see us both there,”[/color] Nora grinned widely but paused as the breeze carried the strong scent of body odor, sweat, alcohol, and regret hit their nostril. [color=FF00FF]“oh my god, it smells like the last day of con in there..”[/color] [color=e77fbf]"Oh sweet, sweet con stench, I’ve missed you!"[/color] Ella declared dramatically with a laugh. She grabbed Nora’s hand, tugging her towards the entrance. [color=e77fbf]"Alright, game time! I [i]will[/i] pin her down!"[/color] It was busy inside, filled with drunk teens partying. The whole junior and senior year to be really had showed up, hadn’t they?! It took Ella a moment to actually spot who she was looking for. But luckily she was tall- taller than most people here, a few of the boys aside. There she was! On the dance floor. [i]Kari[/i] on the dance floor! It truly was a day blessed by Sailor Moon! And not just Kari, but there was Elsa off to the side, and Lupe! She’d missed her bright energy! [color=e77fbf]"[i][b]Kaaaa-rrriiiii![/b][/i]"[/color] Ella shouted loud enough to be heard over the music as she surged her way forward. She didn’t quite follow the going from the left plan, instead making her way straight for her friend. She didn’t really weave through the crowd so much as she pushed through it. Soon she was in the dance zone, pulling Kari into a tight and inescapable hug. [color=e77fbf]"I’ve missed you so much! It’s been, like, weeks! I can’t believe you actually came, I thought you’d be like Nora and totally pretending you didn’t wanna come at home- Oh my Moon, hi Lupe, Elsa!"[/color] She had to resist the urge to immediately hug her other friends, holding Kari in place for the [i]plan[/i]. Nora also forgot the plan as soon as it was in motion. They came in from the other side, waiting only a second after Ella had pinned Kari. [color=FF00FF]“Yeah, who would want to stay home when there are such amazing friends here! I’ve missed you Kari!”[/color] Nora held Kari tight as their head shifted towards Lupe, [color=FF00FF]“and Lupe, you look soooo good tonight,”[/color] their head shifted again and spotted Elsa, [color=FF00FF]“and so do you Elsa! I am so glad Ella told me about this!”[/color] Nora eased off the hug as they began to do their best white girl dance moves to the music, joining the crowd in the dancing. [color=e77fbf]"They were gonna sit at home [i]all night[/i] and miss this. [b]This[/b]! The best party in the world!"[/color] Ella grinned brightly, seeming to ease off Kari, only to pull Lupe into the hug too. She did a little sway as she did along to the music. [color=e77fbf]"The start of the best season of our highschool life! This year I swear, I’m going to get the back seat by the window!"[/color] [color=FF00FF]“It’s not that I didn’t want to go,”[/color] they didn’t, [color=FF00FF]“or that I had somewhere more important to be,”[/color] anime was life, [color=FF00FF]“but I am [i]so[/i] glad they made sure I came! This is amazing!”[/color] [color=e77fbf]"I’m [i]so[/i] glad too. This is like… All of the sailor soldiers getting together after beating the bad guy! Well, more like them getting together before going to beat the bad guys- Either way, it’s awesome!"[/color] She paused before she truly went off on a rant, grinning at Kari and Lupe. [color=e77fbf]"So… Tell us everything exciting you’ve done this summer! Well, the stuff we don’t already know about! Unless you can’t talk while dancing- Oh, we should get drinks!"[/color] She glanced between all her friends, statement turning into a question. [color=e77fbf]"Drinks?"[/color]