575/MAGICAL LOVE ROSE: THE ROSENING

MAGICAL LOVE ROSE: THE ROSENING
Date of Scene:	13 November 2015
Location:	Mitakihara/Pikarigaoka - Botanical Gardens
Synopsis:	Reiko almost hits water, is saved by Amu! Tadase appears! Reiko hands over the MAGICAL LOVE ROSE to him. Amu becomes shocked!
Cast of Characters:	Tadase Hotori, Reiko Touyama, Amu Hinamori

---

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko had her orange backpack, with koi-charms on the zipper with her now, and she was in her more normal clothes. The shirt, jacket, pants and her big ol' glasses that made her look super nerdy. Luckily, she kinda was. She was kneeled by the water as she seemed to be drawing into a sketchpad. There was an orange, and white speckled koi lazing about under a lilypad and she was drawing it, it seemed.

Her art was intricate and prodigy level worthy- it looked more like something you'd expect a twenty year old to draw- not a girl her age. The lines were juuuuust perfect and done- she was shading it in with orange pencils now, making sure she was pressing lightly- not too dark an orange.

Two of her magical koi friends were chasing each other around her head. They wouldn't dip in front of her vision, but it looked really silly.

She seemed generally pleased with her work as she grinned like an idiot, hehe~ This was turning out good---it was just perfect!.....

She was also oblivious to everyone around her!

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu Hinamori has come to the gardens on her own after school. She's still dressed in her school uniform, with a leather bookbag slung over one shoulder. "Mmmmmmnnh," she murmurs to herself, gold eyes skimming the gardens thoughtfully. There's an uncertain expression on her face; as if she's trying to decide which way to go. "Where did they go?" Amu murmurs to herself softly, then sighs again and starts pulling bushes aside very gently to peer inside.

After a moment, she peers into what must be the right bush, because an excited little pink Chara flies out squealing. "Amu-chan~" Ran flies around Amu's head excitedly, then giggles. "You found me! Now where's Miki?"

Amu lets out a groan of disapproval of the game, but begins hunting nevertheless.

Meanwhile, Reiko is not alone in her artwork; the orange-hearted girl has gained an admirer. The blue-haired chara sits over Reiko's shoulder, sketchpad in hands, drawing Reiko drawing.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase is out on an assignment for his class, and happens to be drawing something himself. His drawing quality is... decidedly more age-appropriate than Miki or Reiko's. Kiseki is drawing too! Kiseki is drawing /himself/. This is not surprising. What is surprising is that Kiseki's drawing of himself is also of better quality than Tadase's drawing of a flower.

Kiseki stops drawing, though, to pipe up. "Tadase. There are other characters here. It's Miki! and Ran! So Amu must be here."

Tadase looks down at his flower. It is an ugly flower right now. "I have to finish this."

"No you don't, this is dumb." Kiseki says. "Besides. It's finished. You've finished four times. Just accept it. Kings aren't artists." Kiseki says, sternly. Tadase sighs.

"I guess I do need a break." he says, before heading in the general direction of Miki.

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama grins and looks back, okay. She needs a blue pencil now. She turns--------! to the left. The side Miki isn't on. Now a koi has appeared behind Miki. It is wearing glasses and now drawing Miki drawing Reiko on a sketchpad with a koi on it's cover-- it's really bad and stick figury, it's picture. Well what do you expect from a koi!?

Reiko turns back to the sketchbook and begins to blink a bit as she looks up. To the right and---"AH!?"

Miki catches her off guard. She fumbles around and her sketchbook goes flying, she manages to catch it midair---but now SHE'S starting to fall towards the water. "AH!?------" she closes her eyes hard- ugh! Nooooooo!

Someone save her!

Amu Hinamori has posed:
"I'm sure she's around here, somewhere," Amu mumbles unhappily to herself. Ran giggles, knowing full well where Miki has gotten off to. Amu peers between another branch, and then turns around just in time to spot Reiko tumbling towards the water. "Ah! Ran!"

"Hop, skip, jump!" Ran intones hastily.

Little fluffy wings form on Amu's wrists and ankles as she's propelled forward very suddenly. Amy leaps the distance to the pond, and then right over it, grabbing Reiko and her sketchpad up into her arms like a princess at the last possible instant. Amu touches down lightly on the far side of the pond, barely touching down more than a single toe as she slows her speed entirely.

"Geeze, be more careful," she scolds Reiko. Guess it wasn't romance. Setting the girl gently back down to the ground, Amu's little wings poof back out of reality, and the Spicy girl peers at Reiko. "I thought you were supposed to be a graceful fairy or something."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
It's during the entire escapade - the fall, the near splash - and the save by the Chara-changed Amu, that Tadase comes into view, holding his own drawing pad. Kiseki is leading him. And saying "see, I told you! Amu, Ran, Miki! Oh, and Koi-chan!" Kiseki says to Tadase.

Tadase waves as he walks up. "I saw that, Amu - it was pretty cool." he admits. "But you should hear why she fell, first." he says with a smile.

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama is in fact fumbling her her Chroma Crystal mid fall- and failing, when---she's scooped---AND princess carried to the far side of the koi pond. She blinks many times because that happened really fast. "Ah----!?" that same sound again but she calms down a bit and she sort of settles back down to her feet as her heart beats a thousand times a moment. Not outta romance, no, over the whole you know- almost falling into a koi pond thing. Though the other thing might happen in a moment or two. "S-sorry! I'm not a fairy- that's only when I transform..." she mumbles. She holds the sketchbook really close to her chest suddenly. She blinks. "Oh! Amu-san~ Hi!" she beams.

"How are you? Oh! And--um. Thank you!"

She peeks over to Tadase!? Ah!? Tadase-kun!? Noooooo----wait. She peeks back to the other side of the Koi pond. "Um a moment!" she says.

"Oh, right, um. Your chara---um. Miki..? Blue hair. Scared me!" she says. "Not on purpose I'm sure!" she says as she dashes across the foot bridge to the other side of the pond.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu reaches up and gently rubs Reiko's hair affectionately. "No problem," she says. "Just be more careful," she reiterates, then glances up at the sound of Tadase's voice. Wait, Tadase?! What's he doing here!? And he thinks Amu's ~*cool*~.

Amu stares at Tadase, utterly dumbfounded for a moment. Meanwhile, Miki flies up to Reiko worriedly. "Ohh, Reiko-chan, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you. We were playing hide-and-seek with Amu-chan, and I saw you drawing and I thought you looked pretty so I decided to draw you drawing and," Miki tears a sheet of paper out of her notebook, then hands it to Reiko. As Reiko takes it, the paper magically transforms into one as large as something out of Reiko's own sketchbook, and about as well drawn, too. It's a sketch of Reiko, with the koifish playing near her, and a sketchpad in her hands. In the picture, Reiko looks terrifically happy.

"I don't see why I have to ask what happened to give good advice," Amu tells Tadase eventually, then grimaces. Why did she scold him!? Why did she always say stupid things around him?!

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama races back across the foot bridge with her backpack and begins heaving oh god why did she run!? She's very unatheletic. She huffs and looks up and blinks at Miki and blushes. "Oh- that's really good...um here's mine..." she says holding the sketchbook open to the page she was sketching at, handing it over to Amu and Tadase to look at at thier liesure. "Um... Tadase-kun--- how are you?" she asks suddenly frantically searching her bag... where is it!?

Nrrrrggggg!

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase sighs. "I'm just saying, Amu-san, it wasn't her fault. She was being careful, then she got startled." he tries to equivocate, not knowing what is that /actually/ causes Amu to scold him for not wanting to scold her.

"Oh... I'm actually here drawing too, for a class project." he explains, pointing to the drawing pad in his hand.

"He's not doing a very good job of it, though." Kiseki says. Tadase shoots him a glare that could wilt a flower, and Kiseki suddenly decides to go fly over to Ran and engage her in a conversation about the Embryo. Coincidentally.

"I wasn't expecting to run into you both again so soon. Not that I'm complaining."

Tadase still subconsciously moves his own drawing pad further back away.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu twitches a little a little when she realises she's probably supposed to be doing the same art project as Tadase. Except she doesn't have a sketchbook with her, and for the life of her she can't remember what the actual project was. Crap.

"I mean, we go to the same school," Amu says to Tadase, further digging her hole of shame. "I don't know why you'd thought you wouldn't see me soon." She looks Reiko's picture over, then arches a brow. "Wow, that's really good, Reiko-chan. I can see why Miki was interested in your work."

Miki makes a noise of agreement, then floats down to inspect Reiko's art more closely. "You do an amasing job, Reiko-chan," Miki agrees.

Ran, meanwhile, is all too happy to talk Embryo with Kiseki.

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama is still frantically searching for something she tugs out a wooden box...OH thank god. She nods..."I know. Lotsa people say I should be in.. Infinity. Because of my talent- but.. I really don't want to leave Mei-chan behind." she murmurs softly under her breath. She head tilts a little as she peeks at Amu. She gives her a deer in headlight looks for a moment, before she blinks at Miki. She smiles and peeks back at Tadase. Kiseki and Ran are busy good.

"Um... I have... something... for you---" she says towards Tadase as she holds the box close to her chest a moment. She opens it carefully and there's a small rush of air. INSIDE..... is a perfectly normal looking rose. Except it's pink- and a little small. She holds it out sudden, hard and fast. "H..he-here! This is for you!" she says a little spastically and a little blushy. Also. Her eyes are closed. Okay what's going on here?

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase is /crazy/ confused. "Okay I mean I was going to pass you in the halls at school but that's not the same as now..." he adds. He figures Amu just doesn't want to be around him, maybe? Or he's done something to upset her? Well, no sense in guessing. "Are you angry with me, Hinamori-san?" he asks. Walking backwards to last name status. Maybe the first name was too informal?

However, there is a picture to marvel at! Tadase walks over and - keeping distance from Amu - marvels as well. "That's amazing. I think that's better than anyone in my class. If you went to Seiyou I wouldn't have to worry because everybody would look bad by comparison!" he laughs.

Then reiko runs off. And she comes back clutching something to her chest. And she opens it, and it's a small pink rose. And she's /giving it to him/. And Kiseki's off doing Kiseki things with Ran. This leaves him with little option, and he reaches out and takes it.

"Thank you... but why?" he asks. He is totally oblivious.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Hinamori-san!? He called her by her last name again! No, this is not good! And before she can even try to correct the problem, Reiko is busy giving Tadase a flower, and even if Tadase can't figure it out, she knows what that means.

"Nn...nn," Amu's words seem gone, but Ran is too distracted with Kiseki to force her into admitting the truth.

Miki, meanwhile, flies over to her distressed friend and peers close at Amu. "Amu-chan, why do you look like you've just stepped on a tack?" Miki asks archly.

Amu scowls at Miki, then turns to Tadase and asks, too tartly, "Why would I be mad at you!?" Woops, he might interpret that as 'you should already know'.

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Eh!? She blushes, Tadase isn't getting it!? Well...she'll give it a day! Sure the Magical Love Rose! should had done it's work by then. Reiko /really/ belives this is a magical rose. It isn't. It's a rose she plucked from the bush-and about the only really weird thing about it is well---it hasn't died and withered yet.

MAYBE it is magical? Somehow?

"A gift!? Is that okay!??" she spouts frantically!

If she knew Amu had feelings for Tadase-kun, - she would not be over here stepping all over them. SADLY it's all done now. She blinks to Amu and head tilts. "Is...everything okay Amu-chan...?" she asks softly. She seems upset suddenly. Did she miss something?

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase really isn't sure how to respond to Amu. This is the sort of thing he has Kiseki for! It's a further level of awkward for the two of them - and another sign of how badly both of them do need certain Charas. "Well, I'm not sure what's wrong, but hopefully you can tell me so I can fix it?" he says, honestly. "Because I really don't know. But you do seem upset."

Tadase takes the rose. He looks at it curiously. "Well... thank you for the gift, Reiko-san." he says. Yes, he uses Reiko's first name. She's not mad at him, after all.

Tadase, however, has not been this genuinely confused at two people in a very, very long time.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu opens her mouth, but she really has no idea what to say to get herself out of this hole. "Tch," Miki fills in for her. The little chara rolls her eyes, then flies off to join Kiseki and Ran.

Why si she so busy trying to be cool, here in front of just Reiko and Tadase? It's only the two of them; one doesn't even go to the same school! There's no reason to act like this!

And yet, "I'm fine," she says to Tadase. "I really don't know what makes you think I'm not. You should put that rose under your pillow. I hear it brings good dreams," of the one who gave it to you. Why is she helping this girl with her crush on Tadase!? Amu groans a little, then hefts her bookbag and stalks towards a bench, upon which she plops herself down. She starts digging through the bag, hunting for homework assignments.

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Amu digs her hole deeper by helping Reiko with the rose thing!? Reiko doesn't know this of course. She's just a silly orange headed girls with big dreams and a big heart and also an overzealous heart for fish. One wonders if she might actually eat fish!?

(She does. She's not THAT idealistic. Just as long as you don't eat the pretty koi. ;_;. Grandpa always says 'lotsa fish in the sea!' and there's no koi in there! She knows! She checked!)

She looks over to Tadase and blushes a bit. "Um... a moment." she says as she jogs over to Amu and sits down next to her.

She leans in and whispers. "Is everything okay? You're really tense all of a sudden Amu-chan~" she says softly. "Did he say something silly to you earlier?" she asks. She assumes that's the issue right now.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase shrugs a bit. He doesn't know what's wrong. But he has an idea. He knows who /does/ - and now Reiko is talking to Amu - so it's a great time for him to make himself scarce again. Only this time, he's got a better plan.

"I'm gonna... go check on Kiseki." he adds, following Miki off. When he gets there, he sits down and looks at Ran and asks her directly. "Is Hinamori-san mad at me, Ran? Did I do something wrong? Cause I don't feel like I did, but it sure seems like it."

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu finds the assignment for the art project, crumpled up in the bottom of her bag. She sighs and starts rubbing her hands over it on her leg, trying to straighten the page back out so she can review the assignment. It's due tomorrow!? Oh this is so not going to be helpful.

"Huh?" Amu asks, as Reiko's words sink in. She looks up at the Orange Fairy, then winces. "No, I'm really honestly not mad at him," she tells Reiko. "Why does everyone keep thinking that? Tadase-kun is fine, I'm just ..." she trails off, then looks after him. He's walking off to join the Charas. That's perfectly natural and couldn't possibly work against her, right?

Ran spins around at the sound of Tadase's question, and then immediately looks nervous. Sure, she'd prefer Amu-chan tell the truth, but she also isn't going to be the one to spill the beans. For one thing, Amu's already threatened to flush her one too many times, and she doesn't want to be flushed. More importantly, though, it's Amu's secret to tell, and she desperately wants Amu to find the confidence to tell him hers--

"--no," Miki cuts into even Ran's thoughts. "You didn't do anything wrong, Amu-chan's just too cool to say what she really thinks." Except the way Miki says 'cool' sounds more like 'stupid'. "That's a pretty rose, though, Tadase-kun! Are you going to put it under your pillow like Ama-chan said?"

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama peeks at the assignment.. "Do you need help?" she asks softly as she looks up. "Okay, good...if you need help with anything lemme know! I do my best to help and listen to others!" she beams. She doesn't offer to do Amu's assignment for her though. She'll never do that. Reiko doesn't try to be THAT troublemaking. At least. Not to her friends and people are not her parents.

Reiko's parents kinda suck at being parents.

Two of Reiko's koifriends appear and nod along with her for effect as they pop away in bubbly sparkles.

She taps her chin and pulls out a different sketchbook. She pulls out a new pencil and shaprens it to a clean point. The pencil is one of those fancy artist ones- it's a softer lead, but lets you shade with it easier- this isn't a standard #2. THen she slips it into the ring of the sketchbook, She smiles and offers it. "This is one of my spares! There's nothing even drawn in it! And that pencil is a little different than the kind we use in school, you might find it neater to draw with!" she smiles and offers it to Amu.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase sits down and thinks about it. "I dunno. She seemed pretty upset. But I guess you know her a little better than I do." he says, with a wink. "I'd kinda like to get to know her better, but whenever I try, I get pushed away." he admits to Miki.

Kiseki floats by and shrugs. "As long as it's not your fault, you don't have anything to worry about." he adds, unhelpfully. Tadase isn't entirely sure, but he's willing to trust the Charas, for now. He decides to walk back.

"Amu, did you find the assignment? If not I can share mine with you - our teachers probably assigned nearly the same thing." he says, still trying to win her over with his smiling, caring, and not-a-jerk demeanor.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
"Trust me," Miki tells Tadase. She looks incredibly smug.

Ran, meanwhile, looks like she's about to pass out from keeping secrets. When Tadase walks away, a sigh explodes out of the little Chara. Miki just pats Ran on the back.

"H...help?!" Amu asks Reiko, trying to work out whether she's offended or impressed that the girl has the nerve to offer to help an upper classman. She settles somewhere in the middle. "I don't need help! I can do it! It's just a little art assignment, right?" she says as Tadase comes up. Nevertheless, she does accept the empty sketch pad and soft-lead pencil. "Yeah, I found it," she tells Tadase. Now if only she wasn't a terrible artist. "Draw something you admire in nature," she repeats the assignment, then grimaces. "I don't even know what to draw."

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama smiles. "I suggest koi! But you need to wait for one to rest near the shallows if you want a good model. Wait near some lillies, they like to hide a little under them~" she says softly with a smile. "Maybe some flowers? There's lots of pretty ones here...." She says. "Or... maybe some fluffy clouds or.... a bird---a bird! Right...."

"Lemme text Roy...." she pulls out her phone and then sits back and waits. It doesn't take long for the red cardinal to land on her shoulder. He blinks at the assembled heroes and then whispers something Reiko. She whispers something back.

"Hello. My name is Roy." says Roy curtly. Roy doesn't talk much. He's all bussiness.

"He's our mascot! I mean. Like in the stories and all that. He lets us know when a Shades appears. But I called him over because he might make a good subject and he'll stand still wherever you want him too!"

Roy blinks. "I thought this was important?" he asks to Reiko.

Reiko folds her arms. "WELL IT IS!" she insists.

Roy stares and then sighs. "You roped me into modeling again, haven't you--- ugh." he sighs. "Fine... where do you want me?" the bright red cardinal asks.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase smiles. If Kiseki were over here, he knows what 'thing you admire' he'd suggest to draw. (This is why Kiseki has been giving Tadase trouble about his flower.)

"I drew a flower." he says, plainly. What he doesn't say is he drew the flower of the type he gets up early to pick for his bedridden grandmother every morning. This is also why he's had such trouble drawing it - it's hard to focus.

When Roy flutters down, Tadase is sure to thank him, too. "If it helps, you are a very majestic bird, Roy." he offers.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amu considers roy for a long moment, then lets out a sigh. "I'll figure something out," she says unhappily, then pushes up from the bench. "I should go home and think about this for a while." Somewhere she's not distracted by feeling like she's utterly ruined everything with Tadase. "I'll let you two talk roses together, or something," she grumbles. "Ran, Miki! We're going home!" she calls out to the charas.

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama looks a little bit puzzled. Did she do something wrong....? She face faults. Roy just shakes his head. "Seems somethings wrong." he says. Netherless, this is not Roy's bussiness so he keeps out of it. He looks to Tadase. "Thank you." he says curtly again. It's really hard to get a read on Roy he's so..... dry.

"I'm sorry, that's a compliment from Roy. He's just short and curt." she smiles, and then looks down...

"You keep that rose safe, Tadase-kun~ It's a gift! Don't ruin it now!" she says wagging a finger as she grabs her things and begins to smile. "I should get going too. I think she'll....be okay?" she asks after Tadase.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase sighs. This whole day has been generally super-confusing. And he's still not happy with his drawing.

"Kiseki~ I'm going to try one more time, okay! Come on and stay with me, the girls are leaving." he shouts, and walks back over to where he was before.