Characters: Marnie and Emma (played by orie)
Content Warnings: None
Location: A Café
Emma visited local magic-doctor Dakota to get a new personality installed over her old one. After showing up in the group chat with her new personality, Marnie messages her and apologizes about her behavior. Things are looking up!
Marnie and Emma have a normal, casual conversation.
In true Emma fashion, her first stop after her break was to the café. At this rate she figured her parents were probably worried about her, and occasionally she’d send a message or two to uh, get them off their back so to speak.
Emma’s injuries from the last time she had talked to Marnie had healed, now back to her normal t-shirts and hoodies without the bulky scarf.
Even if she was “feeling” better, she was still overwhelmingly nervous. Yes, it was Marnie that technically approached her first about wanting to start over, which Emma truly was happy about! It still meant the… actual starting over had to commence. Was it a bit rushed of her to come in unannounced? She said she’d be back in a few hours in the main group chat, but still…
It was fine. Fine! It’d be fine! This would be so fine!
Taking a deep breath, Emma knocks on the door to Marnie’s office.
Marnie’s office has been completely set up to become her home.
The uncomfortable chair and desk have been replaced with a pull out couch and a table that permits its couchery. A pink fluffy rug decorates the remaining space, and an air purifier keeps Marnie from murdering someone in her cute little fire hazard of a room.
Marnie herself seems better as well. Once she opens the door, her eyes do widen in surprise, but she looks better. Her skin isn’t as pale. Her eyes look more rested. There’s still some unease in her stance, but it’s not as bad as it was before.
There’s reminders and sticky notes all over her walls.
“Oh! Emma!” It’s clear, by the way she looks down at her less than formal attire and how she closes the door a bit further, that she wasn’t expecting any visitors today. Her eyes trace over Emma’s form, squinting, before.
“You changed your hair!” Her tone, now, is one of delight.
…Had Marnie really been dead set on not going back home? Emma figured she was probably still keeping in contact with her mom (though she can’t really imagine what Marnie had been telling her all this time), but it wasn’t really her place to pry. Still, in typical Marnie fashion, she makes it work!
“Oh!” Right! She had done that hadn’t she. New hair.
“Yeah! I… tend to put my hair up when I get really into cleaning and stuff around the café, so I thought ‘hey! maybe i should just keep it up normally!’” She laughs a little. More self-aware than nervous.
That’s how she rationalized it anyway. And a little hairclip she found lying around to make it seem (well, less seem and more convey) more purposeful as a hairstyle. She liked it!
She was here for a reason, so should she just get to the point? No, she had been gone for like a week.
With the breath Emma seemed calmer, not even her typical ‘haha i am barely clinging on!’ kind of calm, but a more relaxed, maybe even assured, state.
“Sorry about like, suddenly dipping out of nowhere, shouldn’t need to happen again though.”
Marnie nods in understanding. As much as she loves her hair, having it loose all the time is incredibly annoying.
“It looks good!” There it is. Her typical friendly, charming smile she hadn’t bothered giving Emma since the day they met. As trigger-happy as she is, Marnie did commit herself to being nicer to Emma. And, somehow…it seemed like Emma was making an effort as well.
“–ah, hey, wait a sec. You can come in.” She goes to rifle through one of her drawers, keeping her moving around quiet enough for Emma’s voice to still be heard.
“You’re totally okay! No worries.” Though… “I managed to convince Gojo to count it as a paid vacation leave, so…”
Wink!
“Thanks!” She smiles a little at the compliment. Getting better with those now.
Emma gives a nod at the invitation to Marnie’s Office-Room-Space-Area, now really taking a glance around and seeing the large amount of post-its. She’d note (hah) that for later.
At the mention of her break becoming paid vacation leave, Emma blinks before her face lights up.
“Oh my gosh that’s so- aaaaa that’s so nice of you!” Emma smiles and exclaims happily.
She pauses. She calms down a little.
“…Thank you so much.” She says a bit calmer tone, though still smiling with gratitude. That reminds her actually!
“Oh right! I should probably tell Gojo that I’m officially back soon, but I’m glad to hear you’re building rapport with him!”
“Don’t mention it!” A pause. “No, but really…don’t mention it. I’m pretty sure I’m breaking a law by doing that.”
Without specifying what exactly she means, Marnie moves on, still examining something in her drawer.
“Oh, yeah, you should totally tell him. He’s been losing his shit without you, considering you’re like…the one that actually does shit around here.” Plus, Marnie had been having a harder time getting paperwork through, since…Gojo, being Gojo, put it off as much as possible. Damn man.
Finally, she pulls out what she was looking for, holding it up for Emma to see. It’s a star-shaped hairclip, with little charms dangling off of it. Before Emma can react, Marnie presses it firmly in her palm.
“Here you go! Take it as a little welcome back gift.”
A part of Emma’s brain pauses a bit at the mention of Marnie breaking a law, that same part really wants to dwell on that, but the rest of her mind is following along as Marnie continues.
Oof, typical Gojo, she surmized. She’d text him that she was here if he wasn’t at his office after they were done talking.
Just as she makes that mental note to herself, Emma feels and watches as Marnie presses something into her palm.
Holy shit. Holy shit holy shit holy shit.
“AAAAAAA oh my GOSH oh my GOSH its so CUTE-!” Emma gently clasps the hairclip in her hands, and nearly bounces with excitement with her knees.
“Oh my gosh Marrnie you didn’t have to get me anything thank you so much oh my gosh!!” She curses a bit at the way she hesitates on the ‘r’ a little. Since she was already speaking so fast maybe it wasn’t that awkward.
“Sorry sorry I just, didn’t expect you to give me something– not in a bad way!” She quickly interrupts herself. “Just unexpected! Okay okay, sorry, calm now calm now.” Deep breath.
“Thank you so much though, Marnie, I really appreciate it.”
Emma’s reaction takes Marnie by surprise, a little. She expected a meek thank you. Or a hesitant one. But Emma seems delighted with the gift. Far more than Marnie expected.
She laughs. A genuine, surprised laugh. If she notices anything weird about the way Emma says her name, it doesn’t show.
“Hey, it’s just a hairclip! ’s not like I gave you like…a golden ring or something.” Still…she’s glad the reaction was a positive overall. It’s a little hard to pretend the last time she didn’t see Emma she tried choking her, but…as long as she keeps up the nice act, it should all be in the past, right?
“Don’t mention it, though. Or do. This is legal, I’m pretty sure.” Snrk. “Anyway, what’s up, though? D’you need something or did you just want to let me know you were back?”
“Still! A gift is a gift, and you decided to give something to me, it means a lot.”
The same part of of her brain that paused before at illegality is now very much wanting to dwell back on that point again, but unfortunately Emma is here on a mission!
“Oh! Yes! Well, yes to both of those questions actually, yes I wanted you to know I was back but also,” She slides the hairclip into her bag’s smaller side pocket before rummaging through the main part of her bag. She continues speaking as she does.
“Funny that you gave me the hairclip actually, cause I wanted to give you something too!” She looks up at Marnie for a second. “Only if you’d like to accept though!” She quickly corrects herself before looking back in her bag and pulling out the two spa vouchers from the raffle.
“I’m… still really sorry about how… weird everything was when we first met and I wanted to make up for it somehow so I.. wanted to know if you’d like to be my plus one from the raffle that happened a while a go…?” Emma glances a way as she continues talking.
“I… figured it’d be a good, proper way to do some destressing and, get to know each other? Outside of work and all?” Also a chance to explain herself? She smiles somewhat awkwardly.
“Also-the-only-other-person-im-close-enough-to-ask-to-take-would-be-Gojo-and-I-Really-Don’t-Want-To-Do-That-Haha!” She quickly spits out with a slightly more embarrassed look on her face as she looks towards the ground.
Marnie’s eyes widen. She can’t keep the corners of her lips from curling into a small, surprised smile.
“–you reacted so strongly to the hair clip when you were gonna ask me this?” There’s a disbelieving laugh, her eyes still locked on the two vouchers in Emma’s hands.
Marnie has always loved spa trips. Ever since she was little, her mom always taught her that trips like those were a great way to destress. Cleanliness and nothing but nice sensations are a great way to wipe your mind off of the gritty parts of day to day life. And, well, Marnie could really use some of that right now.
She laughs again, a proper, almost hysterical laugh. “–yeah, no, don’t…absolutely don’t invite Gojo. Don’t do that.”
She twiddles her fingers a bit, painted nails lingering over the vouchers, before she places her hand over one of them.
“That’s really sweet, though. Even if I’m the better of two options, I really appreciate it. I’ve always loved spa trips, so it works out perfectly.”
Of course, Emma already knew that this was right up Marnie’s alley. Honestly if she had declined it would’ve been much more telling of her emotional state than anything else. But yes! Trip secured! At least they could breach some familiar ground.
“Honestly I mostly said the Gojo thing as a joke, it’s true that he’s like the only other semi strong connection I have, but in no universe would I want to go on a spa trip with my boss, even if he’s still my mentor haha.” She laughs a little. Emma had decided on just not going, or at least waiting a little while longer until she found someone she could take, if Marnie had declined.
“But great! This is great, fantastic!” Emma grins and releases the light grip she has on the voucher that Marnie places her hand, fully letting her take hold of the one she had her hand over.
“Just let me know when you’d like to go! You’ve already done a lot in terms of getting my absences to be in my favor, so don’t worry about like, negotiating whatever time I may end up using into something favorable!”
A raised eyebrow. Marnie tilts her head.
“Are you sure? Gojo’s gonna lose his shit if you go on break again.” Marnie herself doesn’t doubt that she’ll be able to negotiate time off for her own vacation, but…Emma’s..
Ah, oh well. She goes to her desk to tear of a strip of colourful washi tape, putting the voucher in a visible section of her wall.
“I’m desperate to get out of here for a few days, so, really, any time is good. Sorry for the boring answer.” A laugh, and a shrug. “My mom always celebrates Christmas, though, and I’ve sort of been avoiding her, sooo…..finding a proper excuse would be pretty good.”
“It’s fine! I wouldn’t want you to ruin your relationship with him by having to cover for me all the time!” She laughs a little.
Emma almost wants to laugh at Marnie saying that her answer was boring. ‘That’s my line!’ she thinks. She laughs alongside her.
Ah right. At least she has verbal confirmation of her avoiding her mom, but it does seem like she’s at least talking to her! And right, Christmas was coming up. A bit sad to think about really, considering what she had been doing this time last year.
“Hrm…” Emma enters a slight thinking pose. “If that’s the case, a Christmas Trip it is then! Make a whole thing out of it!” She states matter-of-factly. She really didn’t want to spend Christmas with her parents either anyway, so this worked for both of them!
“If that’s good anyway…?”
“Don’t worry. I think our relationship is pretty strange to begin with.” Again with the weird talk about Gojo. Marnie really needs to shut up about that, but it’s just..funny to think about, funny to talk about. She can’t help it! Ish!
Marnie raises her eyebrows. Locks eyes with Emma. Ah, well..it’s good to know the change is gradual. That she’s still the same person she was before, just…trying, now. Might as well help her a little.
“I just said Christmas was good!” But instead of an annoyed statement now, it’s lighthearted, it’s coated with a laugh and Marnie shaking her head in fake disappointment.
“Perfect, then. You don’t mind spending it away from here, though?”
A part of Emma is just absolutely Screaming right now to try find out why Marnie is being so weird about Gojo. Too bad Emma’s overall excitement is drowning it out!
“I-” She fumbles a bit over her words, eventually just devolving into a few sounds of embarrassment. She’d get there! Eventually!
“Nah it’s no issue, I’m… kind of avoiding home right now too,” She shifts the weight on her feet and gestures towards the main dining area of the cafe. She smiles awkwardly.
“Kinda why I’m always hanging around the cafe haha.”
Gosh did that sound depressing? Should she try and clarify? No, if Marnie was curious she would just ask, and if not maybe they’d talk about it on their trip…?
Plus it wasn’t even a big deal anyways, her reasons are, honestly pretty silly and hard to make sense of to people that weren’t her. Embarrassing, for lack of a better word.
Guess Marnie’s relationship with Gojo will forever be a mystery!
She nods with understanding. Though she and Emma are probably avoiding their home for different reasons, Marnie can’t really judge. Her mom, of course, has been incredibly concerned, but Marnie has just barely managed to wave her off.
“Guess we’re on the same boat, then.” Holding out her hand for a fistbump? Marnie herself looks..slightly defeated. Seems like her self-imposed exile wasn’t fully willing on her end.
“…Guess so.” Emma, after a slight hesitation, returns Marnie’s fistbump.
The situations they were both in weren’t great. Stupid circus really put everything out of balance. A lot of things were a little sad about this. But, in a very very weird way, at least it let them start over. A redo.
After whatever the typical amount of time a fistbump should last for, Emma lets her hand come back to her side. Enough somberness! The trip was secured and she was ready to help! She puts a smile back on her face.
“Okay! I know Gojo really hates dealing paperwork and administrative stuff, so is there anything specific you need me to get processed/made official?”
Marnie…will never be the same. She knows that for a fact. So many basic facts about herself and human life were completely changed, but…
She realised, after the fight with Emma, that if she burned the few bridges that would understand what she’d gone through, then…Marnie would be all alone again. She can’t do that. Not again.
She nods idly in thought, going to look over some of the sticky notes that, upon further inspection, seem to be reminders of laws and regulations.
“Well, the length of your vacation, and we need to figure out whether this one’s gonna be paid or not…I’ll have no trouble convincing him to get me a paid leave, but considering you just went on one…I think it’s something you’ll just have to deal with yourself. Sorry.”
Emma knows that whatever relationship she forms with Marnie now will never be the same. Some little, practically insignificant part of her, still wished that Marnie hated her. That whatever was between them now had never happened, and that at best Marnie tolerated her.
But if Marnie wanted to try, and with her of all people, then she should make an effort. At the very least.
Emma waves her hands in front of her as if to say ‘it’s alright’.
“Like I said, it’s fine!” Marnie had done a lot by already getting the time she’d taken to be paid, she wouldn’t want to trouble her for anything else.
“Alright let’s see… the vouchers are for Kanaguya, so we’ll need to keep in mind time for travel, and New Years and everything…” Emma continued, pulling out her phone calendar and seeing how many days this would amount to.
Honestly, this felt nice. Planning and organizing stuff like this. Just like she used to.
She hoped to God this trip would be worthwhile. For both of them.