Ami woke up to the delicate chirping of her own alarm, and dreams of a woman she'd not thought of for months. She'd never known the woman's name, but for years, the woman had been an example to her. A beacon of what she might someday be, and a way to handle all the confusing, busy world with its people and interactions.
Years ago Ami's class had been given a tour to a local university to show all the aspiring young scholars (and those who simply were happy to escape class) the hopeful future that awaited them. It went fairly boring, since most of the children were too young to do really engage with what they'd be doing in college, and ended up being more about student guides gamely trying to interest the children about how cool the university was. Ami found herself wandering... staying within sight of her group of *course*, but otherwise trying to pick out something actually interesting. What Ami found was an intense young woman in casual dress leaning against a building madly taking notes, eyes fixed on the people around her, apparently seeing something in their faces and motions that no one else could.
The woman was much too young to be a professor, but the way she looked at the world convinced young Ami that she must be a scholar in spirit. And even better, someone who could look at the world and treat it all as something to learn from. A person who treated even the confusing, frustrating social interactions around her as something to study. Young Ami never dared to approach the woman, and when older admitted that the image she took away was more about what she wanted to see than anything else. But for years following, she held on to that image whenever confused about the way other children around her acted, telling herself that someday she'd be able to watch and understand it all, even if she'd never be a part.
(Of course, Usagi then completely threw a wrench into that image and forced Ami to leap into the fray rather than watch from afar. But Usagi did seem to have a never-ending supply of wrenches, and a throwing arm for them that could rival any pitcher.)
Ami hadn't thought of the woman in months now, but in her dream the old passion and need were back as strongly as ever. She was with the woman, now a professor, standing in the shadows as the world moved around them. Her new professor whispered to her of mysteries and new tactice. Things to help Ami to know, to understand, to not have to ever worry about what went on behind the eyes of her peers. As cunning as a Sherlock, but accepted and loved for her insights.
The part that disturbe Ami as she rose to get ready for school was that she couldn't recall details of what the professor had said to her. When she tried to think back for specifics, she saw only the smile on her teacher's lips, and a vague, embarassing warmth that kept lingering through her pre-school tasks. She finally splashed water onto her face one last time, pressed her normal smile on for the mirror, and left the thoughts of her dream behind as she went in to school.
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Ami's morning class loads went awfully well. So well that she found herself a little annoyed. It seemed like everyone was simply plodding through the lessons while she understood them at a glance. It left her with too much time for her mind to wander. Starved for something to keep her mind busy, Ami glanced over the other students carefully.
'Miyu looks like she's pining for Satsu's attention again. How can she not realize he's not interested?' Boring, and obvious. 'Daiki's passing notes to Itsuki.' More interesting. Her eyes stayed on them for a while, watching Itsuki read the note and glance quickly at the teacher, then write on the note. 'Either he's writing huge characters, or he's drawing something. Large motions, arcs... oh, he's commenting on her breasts. Childish. Though her breasts *are* looking accented today. A new boyfriend and bra?' Ami's lips curled into a tiny, satisfied smile at the distractions. It was all very silly, but it did keep her from being bored...
One class went into another, with Ami feeling detached from it all. Her mind was on fire, and the schoolwork was so boring and simple that she stopped even listening to anything but the cadences of the teachers. By third period she quietly approached another girl in class, offering to help with her homework in order to switch seats for the day. That got her an excellent seat in the last row where she could see *everyone*. By the time for lunch, she'd filled pages of notes on the other students in her classes. 'And everyone around me was green with envy about how much I was getting out of the teacher's empty talk.' It was all she could do to not laugh as she found a quiet spot in the yard to sit down.
No one was close, and Ami's mind was on fire with ideas and creativity. She set out a notebook to block anyone else from seeing and put her back against a wall, then slipped out the Mercury Computer. Among the applications she'd never needed was something that had apparently been used by her former life to track personal information and relationships of the people of the court for the Queen. She'd hardly touched it before, but now it was perfect for her purposes. Well.. almost perfect.
'Why aren't there any fields for fetishes,' she griped a bit, before stuffing information into the Notes field. Ami paused after a few moments, then blushed as her emotions caught up with her thoughts. 'Well.. not *fetishes*, just.. it's just a word. For information. There's nothing wrong with information.' Ami bit her lip, glancing around herself to make sure that no one had appeared to stand in judgement of her. The only ones in sight were Usagi and Naru, eating lunch nearby. Safe. Ami gave a weak smile and continued entering information.
'Only information. If Daiki and Itsuki didn't want me to know they liked large breasts, they wouldn't make it so obvious. And any information can be useful... after all, how many times have monsters affected peoples' minds? Knowing their likes would be useful in knowing if something is wrong.' That made sense, though felt somehow worrisome. Ami paused again to look around, trying to put a finger on what was disturbing her. Her eyes were caught again by Naru, who'd just gotten up and began to leave Usagi.
Ami watched them part, losing track of what she was thinking as she fell back into the pleasant, intense analytical mode of the morning, then opened up two new files on the computer. 'Usagi likes staring at Naru's rear. Naru does have a rather nice rear end. Naru gets hot talking to Usagi. Maybe I should help my Princess out...'
Tue Mar 19 02:19:18 2013
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