2278/Feelings Are Hard.

Feelings Are Hard.
Date of Scene:	03 January 2017
Location:	Gullwing Coffee
Synopsis:	Alexis, Sora and Natsumi Ginga visit Gullwing Coffee for drinks and pastries! Haruna has a heart to heart with Alexis and also ask him to beat up more thugs for her!
Cast of Characters:	Haruna Kurosawa, An, Alexis Raskoph, Sora Hisakata

---

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
It's Gullwing Coffe's second day open! This day was a lot smoother than the first, but it's still rocky going. Haruna is busyily cleaning the main bar while Corvus is cleaning up trash and stuff off the floor with a broom from the morning rush. Gotta get ready for the next major group- she thinks. These things often comes in waves!

There. All done. Everything is shining and clean and spotless. Haruna seems to pride herself on keeping the shop clean.

There's a display by the register with hairclips for sale. Feather'ed. Gull-made! Corvus Approved! It doesn't actually say that anywhere on the display. They are reasonably priced.

Look, it's her store. She can sell whatever she wants!

An has posed:
    Ever since the incident that resulted in an explosion in the science room at her school, Natsumi hasnt been seen around much. Although she had called in sick for the last several weeks, she didnt really have any friends or family to check in on her.

    Finally however, she'd found enough strength to drag herself out of bed, even grab a quick 'snack' as she wandered through the streets and eventually noticed the new coffee shop. Well, maybe she could gather information about the dashing Asclepius she had seen the other day. Natsumi doesnt really care to socialize, but she does want to learn more about the guy who saved her life.

    Stepping into the cafe, she pauses at the sight of the hairclips. They're kinda cute. Maybe if she got one of these, Asclepius would notice her. She smiles wickedly to herself...

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
Things are not quite as calm somewhere further down the city. Lot of angry punches, and even more violent groans of pain.

And then, somewhere nearby, the rumble of a motorcycle engine can be heard. In a city as large as TOkyo, this might not be that unusual to hear - even if it is winter - but it can at least be connected to someone very specific soon after it's died down. Specifically when the door opens shortly after Natsumi's entry to allow one (1) Alex to step inside.

And Alex? Well. ALex is more or less the same as usual for anyone who has seen him before. Except that there's a hint of a scowl nearly everpresent on his facial features now. There's a faint streak of red laid over his shirt shown underneath the unzipped leather jacket, too-- but it's not immediately apparent where THAT originated from.

Either way.

The German boy hangs by the door for a moment rather than walking further on inside-- to survey the interior, more or less.

Or maybe he's just hesitant now, for some reason.

Sora Hisakata has posed:
And then there's a girl splitting off from a gaggle of girls, all wearing the Seishou middle school uniform. She throws a volleyball to one of the others, and adds "I'll see you guys tomorrow." Then she gets into the place, looking around curiously. She'd heard that this place might interest her from somewhere, she isn't even sure where anymore, and decided to take a look. So, Sora lingers near the entrance uncertainly.

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa looks up. "Oh! Hello!" she says with a wave. "Welcome to Gullwing Coffee! Can I get you anything? Feel free to look around first." she smiles. Corvus heads into the backroom. She head tilts.

"Oh, are you looking at the hairclips? I made themself! Dye'd the feathers and everything! If there isn't a color you like there, I bet I could make one for you special in a day or so." she says.

"Of course. We're Coffee first here~" she insists.

Then her eyes peek just over Natsumi's shoulder. "Oh! Hi Alexis-kun!" she says with a grin a pause. "Is everything okay?" she asks.

"You look... uh. hurt? Did you get that looked at already?" she asks.

Oh! It's Sora! "Hi Sora-chan!~" she sings out. "Come on in." she says from behind the counter.

There's the smell of coffee and various coffee-like drinks. Of course there's more than that here.

An has posed:
    Natsumi frowns, rubbing her head. She's still feeling groggy, still headachy. The last few weeks kinda sucked, in many ways. The loud motorcycle and faint sounds of rumblings outside doesnt help any.

    "Heeey! Stop that racket! you're giving me a headache!" she grumbles aloud, focusing her anger upon Alexis whom she assumes is responsible for all the noise. "Geez!"

    She turns back towards the pretty Gull-themed clips, and holds one up to her red hair. "Hmmmm, I just cant decide which one to get...." She glances back at Haruna, who appears to be the owner of the store, "Hey, you! Which one suits me best?" her tone comes off as kinda bossy, as if she thought the other girl were her servant or something. what nerve!

    Then she spots Sora, whose school uniform is the same as hers which she is currently wearing, "Oh hey..I think I've seen you at school before. Sora, huh? Did I miss any major exams the last two weeks?"

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
It might be perhaps predicatble that Alex answers Haruna's question with, "I'm fine," and a grunt before he finally steps further inside. Though, he does pause to send a squinted stare at Natsumi. "Ain't my bloody fault if you're hungover," he growls back, only to go stepping towards the bar further on. "City ain't gonna go silent for you."

Upon coming up to the bar counter - and more or less facing Haruna - he brushes his thumb briefly just underneath his bandaid-ed nose. "I don't really like coffee," he murmurs. "What else do you have? Hot chocolate?"

Sora Hisakata has posed:
"Hey Kurosawa-san." Sora greets the girl who seems to operate the cafe, sitting down at the bar and deciding, "I'll take a coffee with double cream and double sugar." She doesn't really seem that invested in the idea, then glances over to her senior. "How would I know? You're an upperclassman aren't you? I have no clue whether you've had any important tests, probably would have, but you should ask your classmates, not me." She shrugs and then stares at Alexis, and mutters something about foreigners.

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa smiles at Natsumi. She does wince a bit as she yells at Alexis, but she keeps a pleasent polite demeanor despite her bossiness. "Well. Hrm..." she eyes Natsumi. "Well it depends." she says. "Are you buying it for yourself? Or are you buying it to complement something else? Or buying it to impress someone?" she asks with a smile.

She looks to Alexis. She frowns a bit. "If you say so Alexis-kun." she says softly. She then smiles a bit. "Yup! I'll make it extra special too." she says as she walks over and begins making the Hot Chocolate. She grabs one of the big cups with a teal green liner and fills it up from the Hot Chocolate tank. Then she sprinkles some shaved chocolate over it to let it sink and mix in. Then she whip creams it-- and sprinkles more shaved chocolate on top.

She looks back to Sora and smiles. "Just a regular coffee? Okay!" she says. She does this up- this is simpler. A cup of coffee. Three creams and Three sugar packets. She mixes two of them in before presenting the Hot Chocolate to Alexis and the Coffee to Sora, with the extra cream and sugar packet on the side, just in case she wants it creamier or more sweeter.

She head tilts at Alexis. "Heh. Lots of people got hungover." she says. "But it was good for bussiness~" she sings teasingly.

An has posed:
    Natsumi glares back at Alexis, "Hungover? You kidding me!? I'm not so irresponsible! I was sick, thank you very much! What's your excuse!?" Glancing back at Haruna, she nods, "Yeah, hot chocolate sounds good to me too."

    When Sora addresses her, she frowns, "Oh? I thought you were in my class. You look old enough. Geez." Maybe she mistook her for someone else.

    Ugh, well at least Haruna seems alright. Maybe she'll feed the other two to the Makaiju later. "Hmm, I guess..Err...I wanna...Impress someone, so..." her face turns bright red, "But dont you dare tell anyone that! What do you think would go with red hair?"

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"I am saying so," Alex grunts to Haruna first, all while he's already digging underneath his jacket for his wallet.

He pauses in that particular search when he hears a very certain word from her, however, and he sends a more or less bemused gaze her way. "... That wouldn't happen to be the 'spit into it' kind of special, would it?"

He doesn't quite glare at Natsumi this time around, but he does still send sort of a side-eye at her, with a wrinkle of his nose. "Same difference," he mutters. "I ain't needing excuse for riding my bike. It's what it is.

He sends a brief look sidelong towards Sora, too, but he doesn't actually say anything. Did he maybe hear her mutter?

"I should have expected as much, I guess," he admits to Haruna's words then, now bringing some yen bills over to offer in exchange for the hot chocoa. "I coulda done that way too. Didn't feel like gettin' piss-drunk this year 'round."

Because reasons.

Sora Hisakata has posed:
Sora takes a sip out of her coffee and then she turns towards Natsumi, "So who's the lucky boy or girl?" She asks, casually, before glaring at Alexis again. "Do any of you foreigners have any consideration for others?" She bites at him, clearly associating his behavior with his foreign-ness, "You should show some respect to the people who're graciously letting you spend time in their country."

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa seems to think on this. "Well. Do you know this person's favorite color?" she asks. "As for your hair and what might go well." she says. "I'd say. A green. Maybe an olive green." she says. "That's a good color to go with red." she says with a smile.

She looks to Alexis and frown. "No, it's the 'I put extra chocolate flakes in it for you at no charge' special." she says with pursed lips. "Alright, you're full sour-kraut here." she says with just a hint of a teasing tone. "So something has gotta be wrong. But I'll tell you.. that. Hiding your problem. Not talking about it. S'what got me in trouble and all that." she says with a frown. "So if you ever feel like you WANT to talk. Just come here near closing time or something and punch me in the gut and tell me to listen~" she says with a smile.

She looks to Sora. "H-hey now. Alexis is a lil rough around the edges. Somethings probably just bothering him right now and he doesn't wanna talk about it." she insists.

She leans against the bar and back to Natsumi expectancly.

An has posed:
    Natsumi hmms, holding up a soft mint green feather clip to her hair. "I think I like this one. I'm gonna buy these." she searches for some change, something which she's come to realize is important in this world, and slaps it on the counter. Just enough for her hot chocolate and her hair accessory. "Lucky guy..?"

    She smirks, "Well...That's a secret. Besides it's not like he really knows how I feel and..." she blushes, "Geez, why am I telling a bunch of strangers my personal feelings? Quit snooping!" glare glare.

    Alexis is given a quizzical look, "So, what's the big deal about this New Years thing anyway? And why do people like to get drunk? Sounds crazy to me."

    Looking back at Haruna, she frowns, understanding perhaps, why someone might be feeling grouchy, "Maybe he has a reason for hiding his problems. It's not like everyone could understand anyway. Some people are just big jerks."

    Grabbing her hot chocolate, Natsumi now searches for a place to sit. Probably not with any of these weirdos, although she is curious to hear more about this new years thing that she apparently missed because she was probably literally hiding under a rock. Or a tree somewhere.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"It's not as if it's really your choice specifically if I'm here or not," Alex points out when he tilts his head far back enough to peer to the way of Sora without turning the rest of his body. "Is it? People get respect on their own merits, not just for being here."

His head springs back properly upright so that he can look to Haruna instead, and roll his shoulder. "...That being said, you don't need to defend me, Haru. I'm not exactly the most polite animal on the planet and I don't much care to sugarcoat it."

"I'm not really the type to push my problems on others either, you know," he goes on, with a grunt. "Even if--" Beat. He squints his eyes briefly at Haru, and then his expressio nturns back to a more bemused side. "... Where does the gut-punch factor in exactly?" He asks with a sigh. "I'm not gonna punch you."

Sora Hisakata has posed:
Sora sighs and finishes her coffee, "I'm just being cranky, don't mind me." She excuses her prior words, and starts to play around with her empty cup a bit. "So this is a friend of yours, Kurosawa-san?" She asks, looking at Alexis, and then she adds, "Might as well then. Sora Hisakata, ace of the Seishou High Volleyball team. I also offer tutoring services for a thousand yen per hour."

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa smiles at Natsumi. She rings her up, and she goes off into the corner. She does purse her lips at this, but she looks back at Sora and smiles. "Yup! Alexis is another school's kickboxing club." she says.

She grins at Alexis. "A veteran Pretty Cure told me, once upon a time, that- the Pretty Cure hello was a punch in the face or the gut." she says matter of factly. "I mean. That isn't really the case." she says.

"So I mean more a figuartive punch in the gut." she says.

She leans forward. "So how's the hot chocolate?~" she smiles a bit.

She looks over to Sora. "And the Coffee?" she asks. "I went out of my way to find a supplier that could also get me a good deal. Masato Sanoujin has helped me a lot with this stuff~" she says.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
Alex's eyes rapidly turn this way and that in sheepish nervousness when Haruna namedrops the whole kickboxing club thing. Apparently the girl hasn't hear about him getting suspended (or possibly even expelled). "R-...right, yeah..." And apparently he's not about to correct her, either.

"I think that's what was said about vikings or something too," he notes then, with a vaguely amused glint in his eyes.

And then the hot chocolate he has been neglecting is mentioned.

"Oh. Uh--" Cue Alex hurriedly lifting the cup up to sip and swallow from it quickly. So quickly, in fact, that he even has the time to say "It's reall--" before he suddenly winces sharply and lets his mouth hang wide open, along with his tongue lolling out and one hand waving rapidly towards his mouth to try to send cold air there.

"H-...hawt!!!"

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa waughs! "H--hey now! careful! it's called Hot Chocolate. Hot! Hoooot!" she says. "There's a warning even on the cup and liner!" she huffs. "See!"

[Caution: Contents May Be Hot!]

'May'.

"Sora-chan, maybe I should hire you to tutor him in temperatures." she insists with that undertone of teasing.

She sighs a bit and brushes the hair out of her face a moment and pours herself one of the frozen coffee drinks. It claims it's Mocha!

"When it's the summer, we have a bunch of cold things, too." she says.

"Now THAT I can't wait for. I mean we're right on the beach." she says.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
Alex GLARES at Haruna. GLARE. After a few more fanning motions with his hand, he manages, "I know that!!" before letting out a heav, deliberate breath. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaah I drank too faaaaaaast...."

"...At least it *tastes* good."

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa grins. "Good!" she says. She slides a hand up. "Usually, I give magical hero types a ten percent discount. But I'll give you the ten percent jerk discount." she says conspiratorily to him in a whisper.

She then slides back as she sips her frozen drink.

Then she beams. "So.. um. How are things going with you and Naru-chan?" she asks. Yeah she doesn't know about the breakup yet.

"Hannah's been running her ragged but she's getting better at keeping up! She even arrived first before Hannah on thier run here yesterday!" she smiles.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"Tch. It's not as if I'd qualify for the first anyway, would I?" Mutters Alex with the faintest hint of irratation in his voice.

And then there's that question. He doesn't give an answer to it right away, either.

A slow series of small changes throughout Alex's expression are processed there, tiny twitches of the corners of his lips sent downwards, his brow crunching.

"She..." He eventually lets out in a breath, and he manages to even out his expression to... something calmer, at the very least, though the tone of something frustrated lingers somewhere there, in spite of it.

"She's with someone else now."

And that's that.

Saying those words probably hurts him plenty, but in a way, it also lets some of it away from him.

"Well. It's good that she's doing well, at least."

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa seems to purse her lips.

'She's with someone else now.'

She thinks back to yesterday. Naru and Kyouko talking but vaugely and Kyouko blushing and she's NEVER seen 'Badass Kyouko-chan' blush ever.

Then she's putting two and two together in her head and she blinks! Naru.. and Kyouko!? She squints a bit.

She can kinda see that. But...

"Oh Alexis! I'm sorry!" she says as she leans forward, and places her hands on his shoulders. She wants to hug. But she does not hug Alexis. She knows the tough guy attitude. Aki is kinda the same way. Though Aki is that way for a different reason than Alexis.

But still... nrg.

"Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?" she asks.

"Oh! I know." she escapes into the backroom and comes back with one of those bigger than average bakery cookies. It is chocolate chip. It's still a little steamy hot. "Watch out! These came out of the oven for the evening rush! But it's super fresh and super hot~" she says.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"...?" Alex looks vaguely surprised, somehow, when Haruna's hands come upon his shoulders. He peers down at one hand, and then over to Haru herself-- quietly so, for the first few seconds.

"It's fine," he murmurs eventually, by the time she's asked if she can do anything. "I--" He continues, but then she's suddenly slipping away before he can SAY ANYTHING.

"...Uhm."

This leaves him akwardly standing there by the counter, all eye-shifty, until she returns again.

And he just STARES at the cookie for a few seconds. Tempting.

"...Look, thank you, but..." He says eventually, when he manages to pry his eyes up from the cookie and to her again. "I'd rather not be treated like I need things to make up for it or otherwise have gone through some disaster."

"I mean..."

He lowers his head some, enough that his eyes turn to the floor -- and the small, sad smile is at least partially hidden.

"That would just make it out like she's done something bad, you know?"

... That being said, he does still eye the tempting cookie.

He kinda still wants to take it and nom it.

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa is kind of trying to push the cookie on Alexis. "Oh just take it!" she says. "These things have awesome profit margins anyways." she says. "I sell like three and I've already paid for the whole batch of twenty!" she says.

"I know you don't need things..." she says quietly. "But I know how I might feel if... Hannah-chan like..." she sort of bites her tounge there. "And I know /I'd/ want someone to feed me cookies after that." she insists.

She sighs a bit and shakes her head. "Naru-chan didn't do anything wrong. As long as like. She was nice about it? I'm sure Naru-chan tried to be as nice as she can about it." she says.

She squints. "Has anyone actually talked to you about like. Obtaining magic?" she asks. "Usually. When like. Someone remembers this crap? and just doesn't go 'Oh, gas leak!'..." she says.

"It means they have something there." she says quietly. "---and there are ways to.. grant people power you know." she says.

"Just.. like. If you feel. You wanna go that route? Talk to me and Hannah-chan. Hannah has the means to get her hands on an Intelligent Device. And I know Virtue probably has access to them--- But it'll be up to the Intelligent Device if it likes you." she says.

"Just.. I mean. You don't have to even think about it!" she says waving her hands a bit. "But. I just. You should talk to Hannah-chan someday soon."

"About 'feeling powerless'." she says quietly.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"OKAY FINE I'M TAKING IT." And so Alex does take the cookie. Obviously against his will. Because OBVIOUSLY he didn't want the cookie!

... He promptly takes a bite from the cookie. And tries very hard not to look like he likes it.

He fails miserably.

He remains quiet over Haru's words about... that whole relationships matter, and the best he might try, there's still some sadness that makes its way to be visible within his eyes, too.

But then, his eyes snap up to blink at her in a mix of surprise and confusion.

"...No," he says. "The way I was made to understand... it had more to do with, like... the person's view of the world? ANd that if they were ingrained enough into magic things around them, they would be able to perceive and understand these things too just by how their view of the world is affected through it."

"Somehow I'm more inclined to think of it like that than... me somehow being magic, suddenly. I've gone through a lot of trouble in my life both here in Tokyo and before I came here without having any superpowers, as is."

A faint, thoughtful frown forms over his features then with the 'offer', and the explanation of such.

"... I don't know what any of those are," he admits after a few seconds. "I mean. Intelligent Device? Virtue...?"

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa ahs! "An Intelligent Device. It's kind of like a much cooler version of a magic wand if I were to use some lame terms. But basically, they're like tiny people in a device that can help you and teach you magic and you'll kinda have a bond with them. Hannah as Raging Tempest, which takes the form of these two punchy gauntlets? And let her cast wind magic." she says softly.

"Virtue is.. it's a bunch of people that do good things." she says. "Magical people. It's not a real organized group, and I used to be a member!... they didn't...."

"They didn't really approve of my dating Hannah-chan." she says meekly. "Because of who she works for." she admits.

She nods. "There's lots of reasons why you may, or may not, be magical n' stuff." she says.

"Just.. being. Sad? and Angry all the time..." she says. "That's bad news. I was like that. For many years. And it let something very bad, and very dark get into me." she says. "And I hurt a lot of people. And I did a lot of stuff I still regret even though people have forgiven me for it." she says.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"Who she works for...?" Alex repeats, with a curious tilt of his head. But then he shakes his head, instead.

"...Nevermind that, I guess. ... Reasons like what, eh? It's not like... I've felt any different since I started discovering the presence of supernatural things." Beat. "At least I don't.. think I have."

He pauses to let more of Haru's words process through him, and he subconsciously allows his head to bow downwards, again. "Maybe.... That's more reason that it's better I'm not 'magic'," he mutters. "Even without it, I've hurt a lot of people. Even if it's... usually, for good reason. Especially since, if I got something like that right now, specifically... I'd probably end up going too far by accident with thugs or yakuza or something-- and probably end up with people after my family."

"I..."

Alex takes a deep breath. For some reason, the words that follow, seem to be even more difficult for him to say than anything else before.

"I'm no hero or anything."

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa purses her lips. "Hannah has a saying..." she says quietly. "She told me it-- when. I was attached to this dark stuff. And I did a bunch of bad things but had fixed most of it- but I was still.. dark?" she asks. It's hard to explain. "And it's.. that. 'We're not all diamonds'." she says softly.

"None of us are heroes, we all do what we think is 'right'." she says.

"Like. Sailor Moon fights evil because she thinks it's right." she says. "Riventon covets magical tech and unleashes monsters to try to make the world better in his own mind because he thinks that's what's right." she says.

She giggles. "Alexis." she says. "Do you see normal people on the street going 'Look it's Cure Gull!' to me?" she asks. "No. You don't. Magic.. when.. you're like.. 'active'? It hides you. People won't know who you are unless you're not careful." she says.

"Like literarly no one knew Mamoru was Tuxedo Kamen for a long time until he told people." she says.

"But. Don't worry. About being a hero. Let other people decide that, ya know?" she asks.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
Alex starts to say something.

His mouth hangs open for a scant second, and then drifts closed again.

Is it that he can't find the words he wants to speak out, or simple that he decides against saying them? It's hard to tell, at this point.

"I..." he eventually stammers out. "I should probably... get going."

Not that he actually has anywhere he *needs* to be getting to.

He's trying to run away.

Because talking about feelings is hard and awful and he's said way too much already, in his mind.

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa frowns a bit. and sighs. "Come back, when you feel comfortable again Alexis-kun." she says. "I'll have another cookie for you." she says. She flumps against the bar and folds her hands underneath her.

"Right. I need to.. contact Naru anyways. About the thing." she mutters.

Back to work.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
The German'd had already started turning. But, once his back is actually turned to the counter and Haru, he stops from moving on any further.

"...Do me a favor?" He murmurs, without acutally doing even so much as looking back to her over his shoulder.

"Don't say anything about me to her. ... She doesn't need to worry about me."

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa says. "I won't." she smiles. "But.. just. Come back. Okay?" she says.

"Especially if you feel.. very down. Or lonely. Or very sad." she says quietly.

"Be well Alexis. Beat some more thugs for me while you're out~" she says.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"I'll manage," he says, with the first step taken forward, and to the way of the door.

"Somehow, I always manage," he adds, through his advance -- or rather, retreat. "It's what I do."

And with that, he's out. And soon after, a roar of a motorcycle engine coming to life can be heard, too.