[Ana Borovsky]

IT'S ME! HI!

I'M THE PROBLEM! IT'S ME!

New year, new-

Wait. No. New year, same roommate. Even the administrative faculty seemed to think it best to keep Ana in the same dorm with Jun rather than risk putting the strange girl with someone that might not be able to weather her personality for more than a day or two. Most people didn’t even last minutes around Ana without snapping on her, crying, or just simply walking away to preserve their sanity.

What did that say about Gen and Jun then?

Who knew! :)

Ana had arrived first. Well. Technically Ana’s belongings had arrived first, having been shipped ahead of her given she had to travel internationally to come to school. Spending the short break away from Gen had been difficult given how attached she had become to him, but she had gotten to spend time with Mama, Papa, Marina, and Dmitri! :)

But back to the point at hand, Ana had arrived before Jun in their shared room. Ana kept the door closed because the corridor beyond the threshold bustled with activity from all of the other students getting their own dorms set up. She busied herself with unpacking. The most important of all of Ana’s belongings was ceremoniously unwrapped from many layers of protective padding.

Bear.

Who wasn’t a bear at all, but a well-worn stuffed penguin. Ana set him on the desk under her lifted loft bed so he could watch the proceedings unfold. “Sorry you had to be packed up, Bear.” She gave him a head pat before digging the next object in terms of importance — a stack of pictures featuring her and Gen.

Notes & Tags: junsuina | Outfit | Ears & tail currently hidden.

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... This was inconvenient. Jun was sad when the semester wound down and her and Ana had to move out. She took down all her posters, which was a lot more troublesome than it should have been, and all her books and DVDs and models and her model building gear, and put them in temporary storage nearby while she waited on the new semester. Only for her to not only be roomed with Ana again, but also one floor up! How dumb was this?! If things were going to be like last time, Ana's things would have arrived before Jun. What she wasn't anticipating was Ana to have gotten there before her. Jun was wearing tattered jeans, graphic tee, ball cap on her head with a pair of bags on her back, a rolling suitcase behind her with a string tied around her waist, and two bundles of cardboard tubes under her arms. She jostled with the door for a moment, nearly stumbling into the room and looking surprised upon finding her roommate already here. "Ana! Hi! You beat me this time!" A bright smile crossed her face as she began to shuffle to the only open bunk in the room. "Ah, you just get here...?" Ana Borovsky

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✿

[Ana Borovsky]

IT'S ME! HI!

I'M THE PROBLEM! IT'S ME!

“Hi, Jun!”

Ana greeted Jun with a smile of her own. It didn’t possess the normal uncanny valley look to it that her expression typically did when interacting with people. She looked genuinely pleased to see her fellow sophomore. Which might have been difficult to reconcile with the words that came out of Ana’s mouth next.

“You look like a pack mule! It’d be a good profession for you if this Hero thing doesn’t work out!”

Ana was really putting the support in Support student.

“I’ve only been here for a few minutes though!”

She gripped the stack of pictures a little tighter then pulled them to her chest as if hiding the images from being viewed. Ana wanted to display the pictures, but Gen was wary of people finding out about them. He said it was for her own good and maybe he was right, but given Jun had been the one Ana was telling about her “experiments” with him in the first place and the fact Gen had been and would be in their room again…

She could just say the pictures were experiments too!

And in a way, they were. Dating Gen was an experiment. It was filled with a lot of firsts and a lot of research. Ana’s search history on her computer would have been questionable if she didn’t know what incognito mode was. The amount searches on hand holding alone only after Jun told her it was the most lewd thing they could do was enough to raise a few eyebrows.

Ana still liked hand holding though.

“Oh! Make sure you close the door behind you!”

It was easier to justify putting up pictures of Gen if no one else could see them. Plus there were other things Ana didn’t have to hide if it was just her and Jun. Ana could finally be comfortable. At least for a little while.

Notes & Tags: junsuina | Ears and tail hidden.

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... Jun let out a breath as she entered further into the room, letting out a breath as, once she was far enough in, tossed the cardboard tubs in as far as she could. "Honestly, I think I'd be better off going into policing," she says, dusting her hands off as she pulls the suitcase in, reaching in the close the door behind her. "If I ever did go into one of those moving companies, though, I could probably figure out ways to better get things done. My quirk is versatile like that." She glanced over at the pictures Ana had, raising an eyebrow as she started to throw her own bags on the bed, weaving through the minefield she had just laid. "Soooo...whatcha got there?" Despite their denial Jun was almost 90% certain that Ana and Gen were an item. Ana asked Jun a lot about dating, but always danced around the topic; it couldn't be a coincidence though. "Memories from the break? You can put them up if you like, I'm gonna focus over here first." She picked up the first tube, pulling the top off and preparing a small thing of tack-putty that she used to secure her posters to the walls. The first one she pulled out was, of course, a mecha anime poster. Ana Borovsky

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✿

[Ana Borovsky]

IT'S ME! HI!

I'M THE PROBLEM! IT'S ME!

“You do seem to like laws!”

There was a slight emphasis on the way that Ana said the word ‘do’ in response to Jun’s alternate life goals. The subtle lilt would likely be undetectable to someone less familiar with Ana’s mannerisms. Jun, unfortunately for her, had enough experience to interpret the change as Ana disagreeing with the core concept of laws in general, but she didn’t voice her reasoning in a long winded and likely insulting tangent. There were more important things to be done as soon as Jun closed the door.

The click that announced their privacy initiated the transformation. Well. Less transformation and more revelation. Ana’s sleek black tail unwound itself from her right leg to poke out beneath the hem of her skirt which it curled up around, though not enough to actually lift the skirt. Meanwhile, Ana had set her pictures face down on the desk so her hands could attend to the other concealment in place. A few deft movements later and the bobby pins holding her feline ears down beneath her hair were released, causing her ears to pop out and up. Ana grinned at Jun and her ears twitched as they happily enjoyed their freedom.

“Much better!”

But soon enough her hands returned to the pictures Jun had asked about as did her eyes. Her smile softened. “Not memories from break! Before break! I was in Alaska! I couldn’t see Gen! For experiments of course! Which these are just evidence of!” They weren't. They were of moments Ana wanted to remember that didn't have official documentation about research. The almost imperceptible higher pitch her voice took on backed that up whether she wanted it to or not. Especially because she was getting into her own head.

Did he miss her as much as she missed him? Probably not. She wasn’t him. But Ana could handle being second place to Gen in his own heart and head as long as no one else was being considered for her current position due to their silence over their secret relationship. But it wouldn’t stay secret if Jun kept prying into it, so Ana had to distract her.

“Is that a new mecha poster?”

Notes & Tags: junsuina

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... The emphasis was not lost on her. She rolled her eyes in response as she started on her work. While she didn't agree with every law ever passed ever, she knew such things were part of the fabric that made society function. Even though heroes had some level of leniency when it came to certain laws, there were others that heroes specifically had to adhere to for everyone's safety. That aside, getting at least two corners tacked up she'd reach for another tube, glancing up at Ana in the process. She still didn't fully understand why Ana hid her mutation, but it was nice that she felt comfortable enough around Jun to let her hair down. Metaphorically speaking. "Experiments...right. Sure." She'd uncork the tube, glancing back at the poster and shrugging. "No, these are all the ones from the last dorm. Minus one. I got something from work over the break, and...uh..." A small blush started to creep across her face, looking at the next mecha post before pulling it out. "I'm not sure I'll put it up. It was a gift, and a nice one, but...I dunno." Jun was notoriously a bad liar, and Ana could easily see that she was lying. She didn't want to talk about what the poster was of for whatever strange reason, 'cause all her others she'd give a lot of detail on the serious and why it was cool. Ana Borovsky

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✿

[Ana Borovsky]

IT'S ME! HI!

I'M THE PROBLEM! IT'S ME!

“You’re a bad liar!”

Ana didn’t have enough tact to follow in Jun’s footsteps and just nod along to help Jun keep her false narrative in place like Jun had done for her. Was Ana even aware that Jun didn’t believe her own earlier lies? Who knew!

Alas, ears and tails weren’t the only cat adjacent attributes that Ana. Curiosity was there in spades as well. Fortunately her forays into indulging it had yet to get her killed as the old adage went. One that Ana was wholly unaware of personally. What Ana was aware of, however, was that Jun was holding out on her and the best way to get information was to give information.

“I’ll show you my pictures if you tell me what you’re hiding about your poster!”

It was a bad deal. Ana was already going to put her pictures up, but Jun didn’t know that. For all Jun knew, Ana was going to hide them away in her desk like she did with her notebook full of unintelligible notes and schematics only she could read. She was a particularly secretive individual after all. And if Jun did realize how short the end of straw she drew was in the deal? Well, that’s what bargaining was for!

Notes & Tags: junsuina

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... Jun winced at being called out. If there was one thing she appreciated about Ana, it was her unbridled brutal honesty. Sure, there were times where it hurt, but any longstanding issues she had she could always talk to Yaoyao about. Or Kaida. And it was a good way to get past certain issues. This was not one of them, though. "I can't, it's...inappropriate. Plus, I gotta get all these other ones up before the day's done, and get my books and stuff out, and there's still a pair of bags I need to grab from downstairs. Also, I can make a guess that those pictures are of your experiments." With the second poster up she'd reach down to pick up a third tube, looking at her label before opening it up, this time her weird Lantern Man poster. She'd start to get up on the bed, beginning to position herself so she could put it on her ceiling. "Besides, I'm sure in time you'll let me see them. I'm not really up for sharing that poster anyways..." Ana Borovsky

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✿

[Ana Borovsky]

IT'S ME! HI!

I'M THE PROBLEM! IT'S ME!

Ana tilted her head to the side and was silent for several seconds after Jun had finished speaking. The motion was a signature sign of confusion for the young woman. “Then why bother to bring it?” Space was limited in dorm rooms and the only use a poster had in the first place was to be hung on a wall. Ana didn’t understand why Jun would bring one that she had no intention of displaying. Especially if she wasn’t going to even speak about it or show it at all.

Humans were weird.

She tapped her fingers against her stack of pictures as she listened for the answers. A secondary train of thought ran through Ana’s head as she waited. Jun was certain that Ana would show her the photos. That certainty came because they were friends. Or so Ana thought. But if Jun didn’t want to share the poster with her, did that mean Jun didn’t consider them friends? Or was it something else? Like how Gen made Ana stay quiet about them for her safety. Was Jun in danger because of a poster?

That didn’t seem right.

It had to be the friend thing.

Ana’s ears sank and her tail lowered.

Notes & Tags: junsuina

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... "Because I'd rather my parents not see it...knowing my mom, she'd crack it wide open." With the poster up she'd get down from the bed, picking up another tube. This one had no markings, which Jun knew was the forbidden one. As she was about to set it on the bed she paused as she looked at Ana, realizing she was incredibly down. "Hey, uh...you alright?" What was going on? This didn't make much sense to Jun, especially since she really didn't want to share the poster. Unless... While it was possible Gen was influencing her in some way, those kinds of influences would tie more into her catty nature. This was unrelated to that, as she seemed a little hurt by Jun's words. Was it because she mentioned that, in time, she'd see the pictures? She was keeping them secret...even if she sus'ed out that they were of her 'experiments', maybe she saw Jun's statement as an expectation than just something sharing? And maybe...maybe. Because she was so unwilling to share this poster with her, that something...okay, she didn't fully know. Just a lot of hunches. "Ana, you don't have to show me the pictures if you really don't want to...I mean, it'd be cool because they do seem to mean a lot to you, but like...at the same time, I get it if it's a private thing." She tapped her finger on the tube, frowning. "A...coworker. You remember I work at a modeling agency, right? Well, a coworker did a shoot, and...well, he thought I might like a poster..." She turned a bright red, looking away as she fiddled with the container. "It's, um...well...something." Ana Borovsky

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✿

[Ana Borovsky]

IT'S ME! HI!

I'M THE PROBLEM! IT'S ME!

Ana understood having to hide things from your parents. She hadn’t told Mama and Papa about Gen. She couldn’t even tell Marina and Dmitri in case they told on her. It wasn’t that she was worried about his safety like he was about hers at school. Mama and Papa had always told her not to actually get too close to people while assimilating. Bad for business, they had said. Bad for the family. Ana had hidden her pictures with Gen while she had been home in Alaska. She had altered her stories of school when telling them to Mama during their daily debriefs. But Jun wasn’t Mama! Ana wanted to show her the pictures and if Gen would let her tell Jun about them, then she would have. Except now…

“I’m fine!”

Her voice defaulted to its usual chipperness. The expression she wore shifted back into the smile most common to her features to match her tone. Yet her tail shrunk farther back into hiding beneath her skirt and her ears flattened lower like they were trying to disappear back beneath her hair. It was almost like she was collapsing in on herself as she put the pictures back in the box and instead began to pull out her school books while Jun explained herself. Granted, it did little to pull Ana back out of her shell.

She missed Jun fidgeting and flushing with her own back turned to arrange the times on her desk. Her ears had cocked back just enough to show she was still listening though. The meaning of Jun’s words might have been lost on Ana a year ago, but for once, the literal minded young woman actually understood the meaning beneath because she had done something very similar to Gen previously. She knew he still had the picture of her wearing a prototype suit saved to his phone too even though he had the real thing at his disposal whenever he wanted. And because of that situation, Ana also knew a particular term.

“Oh! It’s a thirst trap!”

Notes & Tags: junsuina

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... "A...wha?" Ana was hard to read whenever they were outside the privacy of their dorm. The switch to her usual chipper attitude would normally be an indicator that all was well again, but Jun had noticed that Ana's...extra features? They would always give a little more insight to her state of mind. The way Ana was presenting herself indicated to Jun that she was failing, and hard, to pull herself back into good light. Though her explanation might have yielded some result. "What's a thirst trap?" All things considered, Jun was still fairly innocent. There were some things she had unfortunately learned, some because of Ana and some because of Auden, but her library of knowledge on this particular subject was lacking. Tossing the tube on the bed, she'd reach for another poster. "I mean, uh...I don't know how to put this...it's not that Aiko's ugly, it's just...wasn't expecting it? And I can't get away with putting it up in here...that and I don't think you'd want to see something like that on the regular." Ana Borovsky

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✿

[Ana Borovsky]

IT'S ME! HI!

I'M THE PROBLEM! IT'S ME!

Ana pulled out an impressive stack of books when all was said and done. Impressive enough that the sheer amount of books that had been in the box seemed to defy the laws of physics. Ironic considering at least three of the books in question were on physics.

“Oh! Gen told me what it was. Hang on, how did he put it?”

She paused in adding another one to the pile so that she could turn to Jun and give her roommate her very best Gen impression. Which started with the smug smirk she had learned by being a victim of quite regularly. She took a seat at the desk, propped her feet up on the edge as she leaned back in the chair, then she shook her hair out until it was messy before placing her hands behind her head with her elbows pointed out to the sides. It was a pose Gen had been in more than once in Jun and Ana’s shared dorm the last semester when being an ass.

“It’s using how hot you are for attention, Jun-chan~”

Hints of Ana’s Russian accent still came through the words, but she did a surprisingly good job of matching Gen’s mocking cadence. That more than anything else probably exposed just how much time Ana spent with Gen. Even though it wasn’t nearly enough for her. Especially considering the long break they had just taken in between semesters.

Ana dropped Gen’s mannerisms and returned to her own which still wavered between masking and not in light of Jun not wanting to share then feeding Ana breadcrumbs of reasoning to make up for it. “It must be quite a lewd image if you think I’d be bothered by seeing it! A lot of hand holding, hm?” The reference centered on a joke Jun had made to Ana before Gen had… enlightened her on certain things. Which she now weaponized to fluster Jun more.

“Or perhaps the holding of something else if it really is a thirst trap!”

Notes & Tags: junsuina

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... Jun just stared at Ana for a long moment, processing what exactly just occurred. Finally she began laugh, leaning over a little as she set down the fresh tube. "Oh my gosh, that's...you got him down to a tee!" Was it concerning that Ana could do that? It was just one more piece of evidence in her case that the two of them were a thing, but that was not the pressing matter right now. Though in the wake of Ana snapping out of the impersonation and beginning to tease her wholesale what was on the poster got Jun flustered again, her earlier laughter taking on a more nervous manner. "I-it's, no, it's not handholding, though for once I wish it was. It's...uh. It's..." She finally looked down, her face almost completely red. A part of her didn't throw it away because it would have been rude, but another part... She moved back to her bed, picking up the tube in question before turning to hand it off to the engineer, looking down. "I'll...um. Let you decide..." Jun wasn't comfortable with sharing this with anyone, but Ana had put up with far worse between herself and Gen. What was one raunchy poster going to do? Ana Borovsky

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✿

[Ana Borovsky]

IT'S ME! HI!

I'M THE PROBLEM! IT'S ME!

Ana took the tube when it was handed to her, but she didn’t move to open it. Her eyes had slid off akin to the container where they remained unblinking and she remained unspeaking for a full minute. It almost seemed like she was frozen. Only the subtle rise and fall of her chest from breathing hinted otherwise.

Finally she stirred and the motion responsible for it was probably the last one Jun expected — Ana handed her the still sealed poster back. The intensity of the mask she had reconstructed earlier faded. Her curiosity about another, probably half-naked man, was practically non-existent. She had Gen for that. She had wanted to know what Jun was hiding, and more importantly to know that Jun would share it with her if she wanted.

Ana turned around and went back to her side of the room to collect the pictures of her and Gen before returning to Jun as if the previous exchange had never happened. “Research documents,” Ana chirped. She handed the stack to Jun. The top picture was actually a series of smaller photos in a long strip. Apparently Gen and Ana had invaded a photo booth at some point the previous semester to practice the dumbest poses ever. Given how the two of them tended to be, it was probably unclear whether they were being genuine or mocking people that used photo booths.

Notes & Tags: junsuina