321/There'd Better Be Lollipops

There'd Better Be Lollipops
Date of Scene:	20 August 2015
Location:	Pikarigaoka - Clover Street - North
Synopsis:	Amu, Ran and now Miki come to pick Tadase up from 'hospital'.
Cast of Characters:	Tadase Hotori, Amu Hinamori

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Tadase Hotori has posed:
In an otherwise somewhat unassuming apartment complex, behind a door that looks to be equally unassuming, sits Iris Shelby's makeshift and very illegal hospital. It has, over time, become a bit of a staple of Tokoyo's heroic magical community, since it's nice to have a doctor you can explain things like 'youma' and 'energy drain' to.

And that's why, the afternoon after being attacked by The Princess, Tadase Hotori is half-asleep on a couch here. Largely, he's being held for monitoring, due to his age and the nature of the attack. Equally, he's been somewhat bored. But he does have Kiseki to keep him company.

So he's been passing the time by doodling pictures. Since that's what his caretaker requested as a form of payment - a picture for her fridge. Kiseki is helping, though he only seems to make numerous copies of himself standing on the Earth or sitting in a chair. Nobody is surprised.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
    You know what's really lucky?
    The fact that the morning before the afternoon after being attacked by the princess, there was a school junior summer art contest taking place at a department store, in association with the local schools. Not only did Amu Hinamori make a new friend, but she /also/ managed to do something equally amazing!

    After all, apparently Iris wanted something like this, right? Well, maybe something /slightly/ less ... well, you'll see.

    There's a knock at the door! Someone enters!

    Amu has to admit, she didn't expect that the magical world of magical girls would also involve her finding out about the magical world of illegal hospital care. But her, if it was ok for Mr. Amagawa, then it's ok for her! Right? Right?

    In any case...

    "Tadase? Are you still here?"

Tadase Hotori has posed:
There's some some sudden shuffling, a thud, shuffling, another thud. Then the door opens and there's Tadase, with a serious case of bedhead, poking his eye through the crack in the door. Then he slams the door, there's some more hurried shuffling, and by the time the door is open again, it's Tadase looking regal as ever.

The one of his hairs decides to stick up, just to be disagreeable. He tries to smooth it down with a hand. "Hello, Amu!" he says anyways, as he pushes the door open with his other hand. "What are you doing here?" Kiseki looks up from his drawing, confirms it is Amu Hinamori, and goes back to the very important work of making himself look important.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
At the sound of the thud, Amu kind of goes D: .
Therefore, when Tadase answers the door, he will be treated to the unique sight of Amu Hinamori's expression going from that, to *o* in the blink of an eye. It's a once-in-a-lifetime oppurtunity.

    "Ah! Tadase, you're okay!"

    Amu really wants to spontaneously hug him, she's so relieved... but just as soon as she goes to do it, she remembers what Ikuto said, and the urge disappears as soon as it came.

    "...can I come in? Is- is that ok? I don't know what I'm really supposed to do here," she says sheepishly. "I have some things to show you... and talk to you about..."

    "Hey."
    "A thing to show you and someone to show you!"
    "I'm just messing with you, it's fine."
    "You're ruining the surprise!"

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase smiles - he then pushes open the door. "I'm sure it's alright for you to come in." he says. "I'm okay, yeah! I've been okay for a while, it's just that Iris - she's the doctor, she's very nice - and Tsukasa want me to stay for a while to make sure there's not any long-term effects." he says.

Then he tilts his head a bit and Kiseki floats up. "Is that Ran I hear?" he asks. "And... is that only Ran?" he says, moving to float past Tadase and Amu to the backpack.

"Come on in and sit down. I've honestly been kinda bored..." Tadase says, moving from the door, sitting on the couch and organizing his papers into a neat stack. "I think I'm ready to leave but they don't want me to go until she clears me so here I am."

Amu Hinamori has posed:
    And Amu takes her first step into a world of illegal activities. Sob, she's so young. Too young! Next thing you know she'll be pirating mp3s and spitting in public.

    "I'm here!" comes a voice from inside the backpack. "I'm in here! If anyone tries to steal things inside the backpack I will leap out and deliver swift pom-pom justice! It worked on the little cat guy!" That's a lie and you know it, Ran.

    "This person must go through so many bags of lollipops a week," Amu muses as they go inside, apparently in complete sincerity. She may be wondering if she gets one too.

    She plonks herself down on a couch and takes off her backpack. Unzipping it, she removes a cardboard roll with plastic caps on the end.

    "Anyway, I heard you needed payment, so, I made this."

    And that's when a small figure with a blue hat follows it out of the backpack. Literally- she's clinging onto the bottom end of the tube. "I made this?"

    Amu and Miki look at one another. "I made this."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase grins a bit. "She went through more lollipops after Kiseki got here."

"Like you didn't eat two already today!" Kiseki responds petulantly.

But in the end, Kiseki and Tadase's confrontation is sidelined by Amu and Miki's. "Oh! Did one of your other Guardian Eggs hatch?" he asks, questioning the obvious. Kiseki stops what he was doing and flies down to size up Miki, as well. "Another loyal subject!" he says, approvingly.

Then he looks up at Amu. "Well, what's in the tube? Is it for me? What did you bring your King?"

Strangely enough Tadase is more interested in Miki than Kiseki is, for the moment. He leans down. "Hello there!" he says, with his trademark sparkling smile.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
"...for a shugo chara, isn't eating a lollipop like having a piece of candy almost the size of your head?" Amu asks, bewildered. "...no wonder he drew so much. And so... extravagantly." Is that a picture of Kiseki in golden armor?

    When Kiseki and Tadase notice her, Miki gives a little polite bow-nod to them.

    "...he's pretty cute," Miki says to Amu, indicating Tadase with her pencil.
"/Miki/," Amu replies, embarrassed.
"I think I'm going to draw a picture of that smile..." she says, taking a notebook out of nowhere.
    "Mikiii!"

    Seeing that there will be nothing else to do other than swiftly move on, Amu uncaps the tube. "Tadase, this is Miki. She hatched earlier today! And with her help, we drew... /this/."

    It's a very impressive picture, to be sure. It's something that someone who's about six years older than Amu could be expected to turn out after they'd been working on their art for three years. It's a rather nice waterside picture of a park in Chiyoda, with various children in pedal boats moving around a lake. "It's for the nurse!"

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase's eyes are rather huge as he looks over the picture. "This is really good, Amu! Like, really really good!" Kiseki floats over. "It's good, but it needs... something... it needs me!"

The next few moments of Tadase's life are spent trying to prevent Kiseki from drawing himself into Amu's beautiful artwork. By the time he's coralled Kiseki (and taken all of the coloring pencils away), he's convinently missed Miki's remark about him, and she's drawing.

"She's very different from Ran - not that it's a bad thing! - you must have a lot of ideas about the person you want to become!" he adds. "An athlete, an artist - it makes me wonder what the third egg you have is." he says, excitedly. Then he turns back to the picture.

"I'm sure Iris will love it - I'm almost a little sad to give it away myself!" Then, there's a pause. "You know, when school starts up, I'm going to have to see about getting you a cape."

Amu Hinamori has posed:
    Thank goodness. With two charas, Ran and Miki can now hold onto Kiseki from both sides at once! The day (and the picture) is saved.

    Total number of hilariously bad first impressions Kiskei's had on people: (at least?) 2.

    Now Amu has a few out-of-place hairs to put back into position, as well. "I have a lot of dreams," Amu admits, bashfully. "What can I say?"

    Having been able to handle Kiseki, Miki is going back to work on her postage-stamp-sized notebook. Ran keeps peeking in from various angles, trying to look over her shoulder. Miki keeps her at arm's length, sometimes literally, by applying hand to face.

    Even with said hand on her face, Ran just keeps waving her pom-poms. She's such a little trooper.

    "A cape, huh?" Amu says, thoughtfully. "I'm not sure how that'd look... I've never tried one on. I wonder..."

    Brief imagine cut to Amu wearing it like Superman, hands on hips. Yeeeah, that's the ticket. Then Ikuto sneaks in from the side and snatches it off of her, and Amu gives chase, and then they run into Runealy who cries a lot and throws energy draining crystals at them until both of them fall over unconcious.

    Boy, that imagine spot got dark in a hurry.

    "Hmm."

    Amu sucks on the end of a pen. "...hmm. Tadase, I ran into that catboy again this morning, as well."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase smiles. "After all, we're going to make you one of the Guardians." he says. Then, she mentions Ikuto, and Tadase's /entire/ disposition undergoes a drastic change. He becomes actively hostile and harsh.

"Stay away from Ikuto - the catboy. He's dangerous. He brings nothing but bad news to the people around him." he says, frowning. "I know you may not see it in him - it took me a long time, too. But it's the truth."

Tadase actually has to calm himself down a little bit. "And if you keep spending time around him, bad things might happen to you. I couldn't stand it if he hurt another friend."

He abruptly tries to change the subject away from Ikuto, lest he become more depressing. "What are you drawing, Miki?" he asks, leaning over.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
    Amu knew this was going to happen, but it had to be done, unfortunately. She's got to rip the band-aid off, and talk to Tadase about these things. So she sits back in the couch and lets Miki draw, and Ran... presumably goes to eat a lollipop or seven.

    "Oh, no, believe me, I got a pretty good impression o-"

    But clearly one nurse wants that band-aid to stay stuck down, as Tadase changes the subject- Amu looks a little concerned, as Miki- since Tadase /asked/ rather than just tried to peer in- shows him. It's small, but if you squint it should be fine!

    "Drawing you," Miki replies, turning the notepad around to show him the half-finished picture. "Don't frown as much! I need to get a picture of you looking happy like you were earlier."

    "Not helping..." Amu murmurs to herself. "Tadase, don't worry. I won't get hurt by Ikuto. I'm not worried about him, anyway. We need to- it's other people- I mean, we have to make sure not to- again- there are people like-"

She splutters. This is hard for her to get out, it seems.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase smiles. "Why are you drawing me?" he asks curiously. Then, he turns to Amu as she tries to get it out.

"Don't worry. I think I know what you're trying to say. Like the girl that attacked us, right?" he says, softly. "It's okay. I'm going to be fine. I talked to some people - Tsukasa, and a nice gentleman in a mask - and they're going to try to handle her. She shouldn't, hopefully, be a problem for us again. And if she is, I have people to call."

Then he looks into Amu's eyes. "But you were very strong. Very brave, very bold as Amulet Heart. I think you got to her too. The same way you get to X-Charas. You made her think. You might be a big help in getting her to stop what she's doing, if she thinks about the words you said. You are just as amazing as I'd hoped."

Amu Hinamori has posed:
    "Because I need to practice drawing faces," Miki replies. "They're always really tricky. I always worry I've not got the eyes spaced properly or the forehead is too big."

    In fact, truthfully, the faces on the kids in that picture are very abstracted and don't have a lot of detail. A properly drawn face can make or break a picture of a person! That's why the uncanny valley exists.

    Wait, Amu thinks belatedly, as if it had been heard but not really understood. "One of the guardians. ...eeeeee."

    And then Tadase is looking right at her eeeeee some more.

    "...thank you, Tadase. I really hope so... I really, really hope so. I want to make sure that if things like that happen again- if there are things and people out there in Tokyo who put people in this hospital- that I can do something to stop it from happening."

    Miki pokes Tadase with the blunt end of her pencil. "Um... I'm not finished..."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase leans over. "Yeah, faces are really hard." he says, agreeing with Miki. "You know, Amu - you've already shown you can do amazing things. You can cleanse X-eggs. That means you can literally save the dreams of children like you and me. That's something I've not seen anyone else able to do."

"You truly are the keeper of the Humpty Lock." he says. Kiseki is at his side, on his shoulder, nodding and agreeing. "So I'm sure protecting even more is well within your capabilities." he adds with a grin - and he stands up and puts a hand on her shoulder.

"And I want to be there with you, and I'm sure once you meet the rest of the Guardians, they'll stand with you too."