Mischievous Armory [Matylda/Yuu/Komachi]

i am not interested in fulfilling borrowed dreams

❝

Admittedly, Komachi had a thing for girls in armor. Not the skimpy, barely-covers-anything, kind. Actual, practical body armor. Of course, the tailor preferred more modern designs, ceramic plates woven between kevlar. But there was still a fondness for rings and plates of steel, or perhaps some other mythical metal, so long as the design as a whole wasn't the drab tin-can aesthetic. No, Komachi wanted a certain energy to radiate from it.

And thus did Komachi find a kindred spirit in Matylda. On afternoon, however long ago, bored, restless, wandering eyes came across a girl hunched over several scraps of paper in the main cafeteria. Vicious secateurs lined stalwart hunks of wrought iron, brutal yet brimming with as much personality as the creature that wore it. As for the armour's designer, it was rather easy to make friends with someone with the same explosive energy as herself, even though it was much to Komachi's surprise that she was a musician and not an illustrator, and an acquaintances of Misha a well. The only barrier at first was language, but thankfully through her work with the family business, the clothier could connect to Matylda in English

From this mischievous alliance came a plan to make real one of Matylda's designs. Actual metal was difficult to come by, but polymer facsimile was acceptable for the sake of maintaining the illusion at least for now. They had the patterns, they had a physical object, but now was the trickiest and most time-consuming part, that final stretch of endless tweaks. Of course, they could use each other as the model for this arduous phase, bit it was quickly decided on that both pairs of hands and eyes needed to be free.

Finding a suitable candidate was no easy task. Not only did their model need to fit within a certain physical parameter, she would also need to match the energy to pose and move around in it to give it the proper life. Undaunted, Komachi relied on the plan (if one could call it that) that worked the last time: pick out a hapless bystander in the courtyard after school.

With a box containing half the outfit under one arm and a wicked excited grin on her face, Komachi stepped into the Friday-afternoon courtyard, scanning mercilessly with greedy eyes. For a late summer day, it was graciously cool, and that meant a lot more students milling about providing an ample pool of possibilities. It only took a minute for Komachi to lay her eyes on a rather peculiar candidate. Physically, perhaps not the best fit, but the way the black-haired girl carried herself - a hurried energy that still yet stood proud and in charge, was perfect.

"Heh. There." Komachi said in English and pointing to the girl before glancing to Matylda beside her. "C'mon, before she escapes, let's have a nice conversation..." The tailor trailed off as she started to jog and grinned wryly at her friend to add, "...in Japanese."

Matylda Sudakov-Oka Yuu Hamasaki ● notes: Maiko is next? ● 000

MADE BY MIZO

To find anyone at all who thought highly of Matylda's heavy metal inspired artwork was incredibly rare on its own.  That one day a while ago upon which fate conspired to have the Finn meet the fashion mogul had been something even rarer still.  Not only something of a kindred spirit but someone who appreciated the finer points of her design aesthetic.  Komachi was the first girl she'd met who actually appreciated the spikey, metal armor which the various monsters and creatures from beyond comprehension wore in Matylda's illustrations.  Being able to converse in English had helped the brunette get over her initial reservations about socializing, and now the two were decent enough friends! 

Matylda's world had been tipped upside down by the happenings of the past couple of months, and she was actually starting to sort of enjoy it.  First a strangely pushy girl from the music department had somehow convinced the Finn to become an idol singer with her.  Together they were two of.. well, two so far.  Without any costumes or songs or live performances to their name just yet, but Matylda had learned some dance moves from Kokoro.  Somehow she wasn't absolutely terrible with it.  Emboldened by some minor success she'd started to confide in Komachi about the group and had dropped a few hints about getting help designing cute outfits for them.  For some reason Kokoro hadn't been terribly excited about the group dressing like Orcs for a concert.  More's the pity.  In the meantime something more orc-y had been created through the teamup of Matylda's imagination and Komachi's skill in turning that imagination into reality.  They had with them today a completed outfit based on one of her armor designs!

That part Matylda was excited about.  The next part - the one about picking out someone randomly and getting them to try the outfit on - was something Matylda wasn't sure about at all.  Wouldn't people prefer to just go about their day without some kind of weird interruption?  Not least if that interruption were to include being asked to turn into a weird fantasy heroine or something to satisfy the curiosity of two other girls.  Yet here they were.  Matylda had been absent mindedly doodling on a notepad while sometimes looking up to look for a potential model.  Her notepad by now had a demonic half dog, half lizard with glowing eyes running a hot dog stand that was on fire.  Because metal.  There was even the beginnings of a skeleton postal worker customer by the time that Komachi identified their quarry.

"Oh, she looks pretty!  I'm sure she'll look good.. " Matylda began to reply before the last bit hit her, "In Japanese?!  B-but why?  She probably speaks English at least right?  Hey Komachi, wait up!"

With that she hurriedly jogged after Komachi, blushing as she tried to get herself into a mindset for Japanese.  Once they were near enough to the girl she raised up her hand and called out, "Hei! Voimmeko puhua? Nimeni on Matylda!"

She smiled brightly until she suddenly realized she was speaking Finnish.  Her blush grew deeper as she held her hands behind her back and forced herself to quietly speak up in Japanese, "U-Um.. hello.  C-can we talk.. to you?  I'm M... Matylda, and this is Komachi-senpai.. um.. clothes?"

Yuu Hamasaki Komachi Ikezawa

Bright sun, sandy beaches and lively festivals. Just a few words that come to mind when one mentions summer which a certain reclusive first year student happened to hate as much as she did summer. Yuu Ninomiya had never fared well in summer and while many were mourning the changing of seasons, autumn couldn't arrive soon enough the black-haired girl. Thankfully for Yuu, this particular day happened to much cooler than the previous few days, a welcomed change for what had been a hot and humid summer.

Despite how much Yuu may have hated the summer heat, she did little to make it any easier on herself. While most students did the sensible thing and switched to lighter clothing suitable for the summer, Yuu stubbornly continued to wear multi-layered dresses with long skirts throughout the summer. In fact, in her previous school, the overly-dressed girl had found herself with a reputation for coping well with the summer heat because of her choice of clothes despite the exact opposite being true. Needless to say even as a high school student, Yuu continues to wear elaborate clothing in defiance of the hot summer weather.

With the long school day having finally come to an end, Yuu wasted little time in packing her equipment she could hurry home and return to the various fantasy worlds she spent much of her free time in. However, while she may have been a recluse, Yuu was aware of the importance of keeping up a public image. Prepared with an endless list of excuses, Yuu declined karaoke and shopping invitations from various classmates as if she were performing a well-rehearsed line in a play. Today's excuse would be that her older sister was coming to visit, an excuse Yuu could freely use at least once a month without her fellow classmates becoming suspicious. With her schedule cleared for interrupted questing, Yuu hurried out of the classroom and through the halls until she finally arrived at the school courtyard.

The courtyard was surprising busy, filled with students idling outside of the school building chatting as they enjoyed the cool weather. Amongst such students, it wasn't surprising that Yuu stood out amongst the crowd as she hurried passed, her deceptively proud composure making the dark-haired girl come across as a dedicated student with a carefully crafted schedule rather than a minimal effort student who invested over twice as much time into video games than school.

Before Yuu could realise her perfect evening of online gaming, she found herself being approached by a pair of students who spoke in an unknown tongue. Halting in place and turning to the source of the foreign words, it came as no surprise to Yuu to find a brunette girl with European features stood before her.

However, what would take Yuu by surprise was the student stood directly besides the short brunette girl.

While Yuu considered herself relatively tall, tall didn't go nearly far enough to describe the girl's height. The European brunette being so short only emphasised her colossal height.

Thankfully, Yuu would be broken out of her momentary shock after the short brunette spoke once again, this time in a familiar, albeit accented, words that Yuu was capable of understanding.

"Good afternoon Lady Matylda, Lady Komachi. My name is Yuu Ninomiya, a first year student. How may I be of assistance?" Pushing aside her initial surprise at Komachi's height, Yuu greeted the pair with a polite bow as she introduced herself, her choice of words no doubt coming across as unusually formal.

"If it is clothes you are looking for, I believe there is a shopping centre near the station that is popular amongst students of this school."Catching Matylda's rather out of place mention of clothes, Yuu pre-emptively provided an answer. While Yuu couldn't possibly imagine why the pair had picked her out of all the other students to ask about clothes, it did make sense that a foreign student would be interested in where to buy clothes. While it did look as if Matylda had a native friend with her, Yuu couldn't quite help but come to the assumption that any shop Komachi frequented likely wouldn't have clothes in the small brunette's size.

---

Komachi Ikezawa , Matylda Sudakov-Oka

i am not interested in fulfilling borrowed dreams

❝

Komachi-jousan.

There was a smile on Komachi's face, but that term always made the tailor's stomach turn at the sound of it. Yes, the heiress knew she technically qualified for it. No, she wasn't too happy about it, but to be fair, it seemed like Yuu's manner of address was just a matter of habit that actually speaking to Komachi's position. In fact, it seemed like the duo had stumbled upon one of the more formal types, quite possibly old money, and that notion was what drove Komachi to shift over to her 'businesswoman' facade, as of trying to give a sales pitch. But first, Komachi smiled and nodded to Matylda, giving her friend a pat on the shoulder before stepping forward and bowing.

"A pleasure to meet you, Ninomiya-jousan. My apologies for the misunderstanding from my friend here. Please pardon me and allow me to start from the beginning." As Komachi stood upright, she brought the box under her arm to the front. "Matylda-san and I are currently undertaking an experimental costume project, the result of which is in my hands. Thus, we are in need of an assistant for the next phase of this project. A 'model' if you will, someone who shall be wearing the costume as we take notes and make adjustments. We do believe that you have both the constitution and the countenance that would be most helpful for this project."

Unlike the usual jovial expression that the clothier wore, there was a very upfront and serious look on Komachi's face. The way she spoke was in an incredibly formal tone and diction, very much unlike how Matylda would speak to her. But her time around her father and Yuki's family had given her enough experience to at least mimic the part. With a soft sigh, the tailor tucked the box in her hands under her shoulder again and bowed once more before continuing her explanation.

"Unfortunately, we have no set compensation for your time and effort, beyond experience and social conversation, but are open to negotiation. Know that should you feel uncomfortable at any point, you are free to walk away. Nor will I begrudge you should you decline now for any reason. And that I would rather not pressure anyone into assisting in this Enterprise; from the start this has been more of an experience borne of curiosity, and I will not drag in anyone unwilling."

A soft chuckle and a warm smile rounded out Komachi's explanations, her formal facade starting to slip into the tailor's more natural sense of theatrics. Indeed, should the answer be 'no', there would be no wounds on Komachi's pride.

Matylda Sudakov-Oka Yuu Ninomiya ● notes: ● 000

MADE BY MIZO

Matylda--ojousan?!  There were a lot of strange things which Matylda had heard in her life, but that might've been downright the strangest yet.  Being such a normal girl by her own estimation, she wasn't really qualified for such a lofty form of address.  Especially not when the person referring to her by such a term seemed like such a refined young lady herself.  Komachi probably fit the bill, though, with her elegant appearance, business acumen and fashion sense.  This all made the Finnish girl take a little while to fully catch up with the conversation the other two were having.  Her cheeks grew softly rosy as she reveled in the moment despite all her painfully normal nature.  Her hands clutched together in front of her as she wistfully began to imagine what she would be like as a proper upper crust lady.  

The best context she had for such a life was fairy tales, and so she immediately imagined a tall tower like the one Rapunzel was supposed to have been held in by a witch or whatever.  But Matylda wouldn't just be some princess in a tower waiting for someone to rescue her.  That wasn't how a metal girl spent her time in a magic tower, not by a long shot.  And so began a new sketch idea, right in the middle of the conversation they were having with Yuu.  Without warning Matylda pulled out her sketch pad and began creating the outline of a tower, one that would have flames around its base!  Eventually she'd add a few bat demon monsters at the tower's base reaching up to the sky all forlornly, while a princess with metal wings played a sweet guitar solo from the balcony above.  Maybe there'd be a witch down there too, conjuring up a ghostly drummer.  Yeah!  That was the ticket!

It was only as she began to hurriedly sketch the outline of the first bat demon that she remembered where she was.  Slowly she looked up from her sketch pad, eyes shifting from one tall girl to the other (granted everyone was tall compared to Matylda).  An awkward smile spread over her lips as she lowered the sketch pad and tried to figure out where the conversation had gone while she'd been in dreamland.  The Finn placed her forefinger on her hand as she contemplated the matter, some of Komachi's explanation filtering through the excellent regal guitar riffs which echoed through her daydream.  Something about the outfit that they had designed, she thought.  A lightbulb went off in her head as that realization hit her and she lifted the sketch book again and rifled through the pages.  Once she'd found the concept sketches in her book, she flipped it around for Yuu to see in all its semi-armor, semi-Orcish-ish glory.  

"Here!  It's.. like this," Matylda added in, chuckling awkwardly as if nothing weird had just been going on in her head.

Yuu Ninomiya Komachi Ikezawa