『 NAO MURAKAMI ⌑ THE DRAINED STUNT DOUBLE 』
Pinpointing the moment in which her fellow peers began to file toward the gate, Nao quickly followed after them. With a sigh full of doubt escaping her, she absentmindedly stared in front of her, until she had to hand over her identification. She didn't seem perturbed at all, until the request to confiscate her champagne came. Needless to say, she was very unenthused by the notion.
Perturbance transformed into consternation at the request of her phone. Her grip tightened on the prized personal possession, but she resentfully placed it into the requestee's hand. Here she thought that she was going to pass the time with mobile games that didn't require data; a blatant lie as she thought phones were better mirrors than mirrors themselves. It was all she was going to use them for, but she figured she couldn't argue against orders. She squeezed her lips together, dangerously so. Any more pressure and her teeth would've drawn blood, all to mask her displeasure.
"I don't have any other devices on me," she mumbled. She took any looks from the staff as an offense to her, and she matched it with a glare of her own. She held out her hands for a brief moment and shook her head forward as if to ask what more they wanted.
After the exchange, Nao briskly walked into the corridor and made a sharp turn towards the entrance of the plane. She wanted to get this over with, more than anything in the world. Her previous motivation to make herself look decent for the royal family was long gone. She supposed she'd have to suck it up though. She wasn't a princess from another country, and she had no right in throwing a tantrum like a child.
Selecting her seat, she fixed her gaze onto her hands and onto her luggage. The sides of the extended handle were harshly gripped by the stunt double as if she had some secret super strength power. Blinding herself with a simple closure of her eyes, she attempted breathing exercises, recalling her previous words.
It wasn't the end of the world. No, those weren't her words, but it was a simple reminder after another.
Upon seating herself, however, she found the borderline abuse performed to objects now being performed on herself. Her upper arms were squeezed with the firmness needed to roll out dough, and her head drooped downwards-- rain waiting to fall off the edge of a roof. Strands of hair took longer to succumb to gravity than others, while others made half-formed and fully-formed spirals on her shoulders and back. The woman was only made alert at the sound of passing footsteps, and dully lit eyes flickered upwards to face the flight attendants. Her carry-on luggage. A glance was all it took to recognize the object's existence, that she had been trudging behind her the entire waiting period. Animosity bubbled inside of Nao discerning it; she had already sent off half a closet's worth of clothes in her separate baggage that she'd have to claim once they landed.
Tucking a side of her hair behind her ear, she shot a glare to the flight attendant(s) and waved them off with a flick of her wrist. A scoff emanated from her no later than a few seconds, and she begrudgingly got on her feet to store her carry-on away. For now, at least.
In the comfort of her seat, Nao slipped her shoes off and brought her legs up to the seat with her. From there, she seated herself in the most comfortable position she could muster, one she'd have to sprinkle specks of gratitude on her height for.
Yoko suwari was the name of the position if she recalled correctly. It was the only comfort she could receive conditionally, and a comfort that wouldn't betray her for the minutes to come. Anything that would disrupt that false feeling of comfort was avoided. She pretended as if the seat in front of her didn't exist, and she hoped that any more of the passing footsteps weren't from people latching their sights onto the seat in front of her. Perhaps she should be grateful for her earlier outburst, deterring any possible relationships she could have made within the last few minutes. Isn't that what she wanted? She did, but she didn't know why she felt so... trapped.
Directing her head towards the window, Nao focused on the way the outside world looked with its darkened sky and objects that would naturally tower over her if she wasn't where she was. She acquired the hair tucked half-hazardly behind her ear and brushed through it with her faux nails in a leisurely manner. At times, she cared whether or not her hair covered most of her features, and at other times, she was too lost in her thoughts to think much on it.
From coaxing the strands of hair to untangling themselves, to gripping them together like grabbing a chunk of cooked noodles from a pot, it all reflected the turmoil present in her mind. There were moments where her lips slightly parted, and her eyes widened in partial realization, and with that realization came the subconscious act of making herself appear smaller. Her courage rested in the one glance around she gave the dreadful, all-too-flashy, falsely solicitous interior.
The assumption that the stunt double feared heights could be made, but it didn't make any feasible sense when ascertaining her occupation.
The surreal look of the aircraft churned her stomach in a way she couldn't describe. She lurched over further until she was sure she was akin to a folded chair. She slightly realigned herself to where her head pointed in the opposite direction her knees were, and her hands moved to hug her biceps. She refused to move from this position until the plane had gone well on its way to taking its course in the sky. Any announcements she raised her hands to cover her ears from. She held a desire to ignore it all, and while she had been accustomed to sceneries like this... That was the assumption, wasn't it?
No one could know how Nao was possibly passing the time with the state she was in, but her head only perked up at the sound of a rolling cart. That was when one foot came down to touch the floor, and she looked over to the visible options offered. One question of hers resulted in another question following up, and the knowledge that the alcohol provided wouldn't achieve her wishes, she settled for a small snack instead. She planned on stuffing her face whole, but that was out of the question, too. She set it to the side, adjacent to the corner of her seat, reluctant to touch it at all. Defiance would pass the time for her.
Considering she already had a foot on the ground, she presumed enough time had passed where she could fetch her carry-on luggage and important things from it. She dragged it down from its upstairs chamber and proceeded to haul it over in front of her seat. Before opening it, her hands raised to her face, and she patted her cheeks to rid herself of the glued frown on her features. Her hands rested there momentarily, and a sigh triggered her into her next motions.
Everything she no longer thought she needed went into the luggage. Anything she needed right now, came out. It was as simple as that.
A magician she should've been, for the carry-on luggage was out of sight soon enough. It was there that she positioned herself in her seat, turning so that she would be perpendicular to the seat itself. With one hand holding a compact mirror, and the other struggling to take out a makeup wipe instead of its entire family, she proceeded to remove all of her makeup. She paused, glanced, paused again, and continued. When she thought she had finished, she peered closer into the mirror, leaned back, and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands, accompanied by a quiet sniffle.
Heaving out a sigh, Nao set things down momentarily, moving what she needed to the side and keeping on her lap what she needed. From there, she began the quick process of reapplying her makeup. It was her hair she was more concerned about. A pop from her lips was heard to mark the end of her makeup session, and everything went on the table in front of her. Still careful not to potentially catch sight of anyone in front of her, she turned back to her original position and hoisted up her mirror with her feet. She figured there was a better way to do this, rather than hold an abdominal crunch for what seemed like a millennium (she visibly struggled after the first minute had gone by), but separating her hair couldn't be all too difficult when it was two separate colors. There was a high preference for exerting physical strain when compared to mental strain, as her expression appeared to be complacent whilst doing these practiced motions.
Through her grit teeth, a sigh made its way out as her body gave out, turning from an afloat rowboat to one kissing the water with its hollow inside. No matter though, for she was sure her arms could last longer. With one of her hands, she patted down her clothes for the outline of her bun coverings and all other materials and proceeded to use her mouth to hold one of the strings, while she did one side of her hair into a bun to set it into place. Applying the finishing touches, she leaned over to check the result, and she felt it faired decently enough. The same process was mimicked on the other side, but with more determination now that the endpoint was in sight.
Cute like a button! Her face scrunched up at the saying.
This was all done for her self-image, of course, but Nao also figured that the royals wanted them to look presentable, hence the refusal for anyone to get plastered before the initial meeting. As if they couldn't just send the disruptor back on their way back home... Nao didn't understand why it was so difficult to do so. From her experience, a wave of a hand is all anyone in power needed to get rid of something they didn't want to deal with. Perhaps it had to do something with the whole climate change fiasco she read about from time to time again. Not that she cared, for she'd be dead before it'd affect her.
The rest of the trip went like this: the items on the table went back into the carry-on, and the carry-on went back into the attic of the plane. Nao remained seated properly this time, sliding her shoes back on and staring out the window, now feeling the back of her neck to be cool. Her actions could now only be described as antsy, for her fingers played a random melody on her thighs, and her feet occasionally joined in to tap rhythmically on the floor, only switching to apprehensive leg bouncing the more she inched towards the edge of boredom.
The chips that had been left behind to forever be abandoned and find a new home within a trash bag were picked up by Nao, who this time didn't want to appear ungrateful. The recognition never led to any sort of kindness towards the bag, for this was all to pass the time, and that was the bag's only purpose to Nao. The deliberation she held towards inspecting each and every chip was unmatched if any chess player attempted to compete against her. It was similar to sorting through a bag of blocks kids would play with, she supposed.
Whatever kept her distracted, she appreciated, and whatever passed the time, she appreciated ten times more.
Yet time would always loom over the stunt double and dig its claws into her trapezius the more she tried to drive her mind away from any questions that pertained to the remaining length of the flight. This led to her eventually succumbing to eating the bag of chips like a normal person, which she took great pleasure in doing so. The empty bag was set onto the table, and the leftover time was spent dazing off into the distance, finding solace in the painting that was the sky, as colors began to litter the canvas. After all, all art was to be appreciated, unless it was the interior of this jet.
There was no limit to her rudeness, even in her thoughts.
And it was this impudent and negative way of thinking that resulted in her missing the first sight of the Blackmore palace. By the time she was done with soaking in the colors presented to her, she was focused on making sure she had everything she could have on her, on her.
Regardless, relief and a newfound source of energy found their way into the stunt double. After taking care of the small mess she left behind, she was off to meet those royals upon the landing of the plane. Nothing else mattered! No one else mattered! Any words that buzzed around her were just that, buzzing from bees that flock together.
Had she noticed the ghost of a smile that formed on her lips, she would've forced it off and replaced it with her more notable serious expression. It flew past her knowing for quite a bit until she reached the area of the limousines, where her expression dropped and she was once reminded of her disdain for the rich. From what she could guess ahead of time, she assumed she'd be in front of the messenger before the royals themselves. So much for being benevolent.
Even if the limousines were comfortable, Nao clearly didn't equate comfortability to benevolence. She did though, associate the view provided with such. The uniformity of the trees had its own charm to them, and the shrubbery that exposed itself reminded her a bit of home. It was more than anything she was expecting, and it made the trip a bit more bearable for the judgemental stunt double. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, and her gaze remained observant of the scenery that would blur together here and then.
Still, she wished she had her phone to capture the sight.
It was only when the structure resembling a palace that came into view was Nao fully impressed. She huddled herself closer to any window that would reveal more of the building than she was already seeing. It was... different, and because it was different she liked it. The gate with the emblem of the Blackmore family made Nao scoff in a playful manner. It was comical for its own reason.
The closer the limousines pulled up to the palace, the more Nao herself felt out of place. To make up for this, Nao clipped her jacket shut, to seem fancier than she actually was. She hoped the artistic patterns presented would achieve the effect she was aiming for. In a bit of a rush she was, and she felt silly when she found out she had more time than she thought. It mattered no more when the doors rolled open, and she slowly stepped out to glance about the area. She kept her hands behind her back as she took a few slow steps forward as if believing she wasn't allowed to step on this ground.
It was all fascinating to her, so much so that she seemed to forget that without her phone, she appeared to be the equivalent of a lost child misplaced in a casino setting.