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Ran Itoh     Ran isn't a therapist. Hell, she's just a nurse - not a bad one, but surely there are other people more qualified than she is to take this task on!

    The problem is that nobody else apparently wanted to step up. Maybe she's being judgemental, or not thinking anything through well enough... but Janine had seemed so defeated.

    'Wanna meet up and have lunch? I wanted to float an idea past you.' It's a simple note, short and to the point, and she'd left it for Janine. Now, Ran waits outside the door of the Shack, because Janine lives inside there now. Despite some quite reasonable apprehension she's pretty hopeful that things can turn around. Maybe???
Janine Liberi     Janine is a lot of things, and one of those things is 'glutton.' You wouldn't think it, based on her skinny frame, but she eats like a horse. Thus, she would never turn down a free lunch.

    Not long after she arrives, Ran is greeted by Janine kicking the door open. She's bundled up in a coat and wearing a muffler to defend against the cold. And also obscure her features. Afraid of running into people maybe. "Where we going?"
Ran Itoh     While she wasn't quite expecting the muffler, et all, Ran is still glad to see Janine ready to eat. After all, isn't it supposed to be easier to have difficult conversations over food??

    The nurse is dressed warmly, perfect for a chilly day - dark jeans, warm winter boots, and a thick sweater with little kitty faces all over it. It's anyone's guess as to whether Ran bought it for herself or it was a present. "Hi! I wanted to bring lunch with me but I... maybe sort of kinda burned the rice," she admits jamming her hands into her jean pockets. Ooooooooooooops. "But, how about pizza instead? Is there good pizza anywhere that you know of?"
Janine Liberi     It's hard to tell under the muffler, but Janine is clearly making A Face at that sweater. "It's probably for the best. Emily would have tsked at anything your brought in all liklihood. Not audibly of course, but on the inside.

    Is Ran really asking an Italian girl if she knows where good pizza is? "I know a place on Fir Street. It was the first thing I homed in on when I got here. C'mon."

    After the walk from the woods into the city, the place is located! It's pretty upscale... can Ran even afford it between all the cute things?
Ran Itoh     Ran asks a lot of people lots of different questions!! If Janine happens to be Italian, and happens to enjoy pizza, it's just a coincidence! Probably. ...Okay, it's not /that/ much of a coincidence. "I dunno, she really liked our teriyaki from the school's cultural festival," Ran hmmms, thoughtfully neglecting to mention that all the work was done by Hikaru! She just took people's money and served things up on paper plates.

    They walk along towards Fir Street. Trust Janine to pick out an expensive place to buy /pizza/, of all things--!

    Well, as long as nobody tries to buy wine on her tab, Ran ought to be okay. She's better at saving than her erstwhile roommate, at least!! "You should probably pick the toppings. People keep telling me that pineapple on pizza is 'an abomination', but if it's good that means it's fine, right???"

Ran busies herself with folding her cloth napkin into a swan (it looks more like an anemic duck) while they wait. "...Ne, the reason I asked you to come eat..." She pauses, uncomfortably trying to think of the right words. "Well, just... it's about your family again." Ran screws up her expression a little bit. Ugh, what a disaster! "I mean, if you're worried about them thinking you're a bitch... Can you change?"

    Like it's just that simple.
Janine Liberi     "Pineapple is fine when it's grilled beforehand. If you sprinkle it on uncooked, that's horseshit," Janine grumbles as they get in line. When the time comes to order, she goes for a very traditional topping mix. Olives, peppers, ham, pepperoni, plenty of cheese... it sounds practiced.

    When they sit, and Ran pops that question, Janine's face tenses. "You think I like being nasty all the time?" she asks. "Well I don't. But I don't exactly have patience for people these days. This thing?" She gestures at her enslinged arm under the jacket. "It hurts, all the time, even through the painkillers. When you're always hurting, you don't have time to filter yourself."
Ran Itoh     Ran likes pizza, no matter what you put on it. God help the nation of Japan if Janine ever learns that mayonnaise and corn are considered valid toppings...!

    Ran's selection has a bit less meat but she'slooking forward to chowing down all the same. Green peppers, mushrooms, black olives mushrooms... can she get extra-extra mushrooms? Is that a thing?

    She'd expected Janine to tense up, honestly. Who wouldn't? "I didn't know if you did or not," she answers quietly. "It can't be easy at all. Not just having your abilities cut down, but to live in pain all the time." She swirls her straw around in her glass of ice water, watching the cubes click against the sides of her glass. "I wanted to understand. I guess... I wanted to find out if there was a way to help you hurt less. I know you've been seen by some of the continent's best physicians, so there's not really anything I could do that they can't. ...Still..."

    Ran trails off. There may not be anything that she can do. But she owes it to Janine, and to that Bella Liberi who'd welcomed Ran with open arms, to try her best.
Janine Liberi     Janine fumes silently as the pizza's arrive. She grabs a slice and tears into it, letting the cheese stretch before nibbling it to pull it into her mouth. She finishes the whole thing before she gives an answer.

    "I'm not gonna throw some tantrum about how 'nobody understands,' because even I am better than that. But I am gonna say that you saying 'I wish I could help' is more for your benefit than mine. It's a verbal backpat, something to assure to yourself that you're a good person. I know you would help if you could, you don't need to virtue signal it."
Ran Itoh     Ran can tell she's said something wrong. She hadn't expected Janine to spill her guts, precisely, but she'd hoped that maybethe two of them would able to make some kind of progress...? It's not until the pizza arrives, however, that she starts to understand what she's inadvertently done.

    She picks a bit at her own slice, one mushroom at a time. "I'm sorry," Ran sighs, hunching her shoulders a bit. "I think... I said it wrong." She tugs at a corner of her crust, sliding a nail in between an olive slice and the cheese. "I wanted to ask you if you had some ideas. If you hurt less, you'd be less impatient, right?"

    Ran tries not to think about the percocet stocked in the clinic at Drachenblatt.

    "And," she continues momentarily, looking over her plate with serious, whiskey-colored eyes, "if you could be more patient with people, you'd feel better about who 'you' are, right?"

    For someone who grew up bilingual, Ran can't help but wonder if she really understands anything at all.
Janine Liberi     Janine grumbles as she finishes off her crust before grabbing another slice. "If I had any real ideas, I'd be doing them. I don't want to get on more or stronger drugs, otherwise I'm gonna be even more useless then I am now. Even the stuff I use now makes me zone out."

    She sips some water next and sighs. "Yeah, I guess it would be easier to feel good about myself when I don't feel like shit for being shitty. But that's not going to happen anytime soon. I've been shitty for too long. If I started being nicer, people will think I'm up to something."
Ran Itoh     "I can't say that I know what you're enduring. Like... I can understand the 'what' of it all I like. Nerve pain, muscle atrophy. But I can't understand your experience. Still..." Ran trails off, lowering her eyes to the plate in front of her. "I liked that girl that I met at the birthday party, even if she wasn't real." It's a crude thing to say.

    Ran picks up her slice and works on getting a couple of bites down. "Is that what you were like before the disease hit? Happy? Loving?" Ignorant-- no. Innocent? She doesn't say it out loud. She's already said enough, really.

    "Have you thought about talking to Hikky about it all? I don't know if it would make you feel better. But... he's experienced a lot, too. And he has a perspective that a normal therapist won't." Fox Sister, in all her myriad meanings...
Janine Liberi     Janine averts her eyes when Ran brings up the birthday party. Because it's a reminder of 'home' or because of how she acted. "Used to be, yeah. Vapid, you know. Like most girls at Alberichstadt." That's another word for what Ran was thinking, but the connotation is far worse.

    "Oh, is this what we're coming around to? Were you just beating around the bush to ask me not to bring up what you told me about your boyfriend?" Her jaw clenches again, and she huffs. "I'm not going to tell anyone. Believe it or not, I don't care that much."
Ran Itoh     Sigh. Ran abandons her pretense of 'eating pizza', because even if she's hungry (she is) and it's delicious (it is), she can't very well beat around that bush any more right now.

    "I'm not going to tell you that suffering brings understanding. Even /I/ know how stupid that is." There's a wryness to her tone. Ran tilts her head gently, letting her gaze rest somewhere around the vicinity of Janine's plate. "You're doing it again," she remarks. "I already told Hikky that I told you. He was really nervous about it. I never actually... really thought you /would/ tell anyone else," Ran admits, because the idea had truly never occurred to her.

    Ran rests her elbows on the table, and cradles her chin in her hands. "I asked because I think it might help you. And it might help Hikaru, though I... don't really know how. He's the therapist, not me."
Janine Liberi     Janine leans back in her chair and lets out a long groan. "Fucking... fine, I'll talk to him. God, I wish people would be more direct, like what August got. No need for this whole rigmarole."

    She scarfs down the rest of the meal and then throws some bills on the table. "Don't even start," she says immediately to Ran. "I've been in the school's computer system, I know what they're paying you."
Ran Itoh     "What August got ended up with the Engineer ready to murder us," Ran points out in a manner she believes to be completely reasonable. "And even if I do want you to talk to Hikky, that's not the entire reason I asked you to show me where there's good pizza. I just..." She makes a face, unable to really find the words she wants. "Mmmmnnnn. You're impatient, and sometimes mean, but you're my teammate too. My kohai." German doesn't have a real equivalent to the precise Japanese concept of 'junior colleague that you support'.

    "Asking you how I can help you, trying to get you to form a stronger bond with Hikaru... these aren't things I'm doing because I want to feel good about myself. --At least, I'm pretty sure they aren't," she frowns suddenly. Great, way to make her self-conscious of her own motives, Janine!! "It's because maybe you could feel better. And if you did, that would be great."

    Ran blinks, but before she really understands what Janine's on about, the money's on the table and her salary has been (deservedly) impugned. "I-- thanks," the blonde says weakly. "For lunch."

    And, she doesn't add, for saying yes.