View source for 179/Final Preparations

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/07/15
|Location=Uminari City - Shopping Strip
|Synopsis=Before the Waldians can expand their plans to attack Tokyo's protectors, they address one last detail...
|Cast of Characters=29, 34, 45
|pretty=yes
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{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:29|Runealy Waldia (29)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Spending some time in a low mood can hinder creativity, but sometimes being in it for long enough can bring inspiration. Such is the case in the early evening hours after school today. Rune had left on her own after class, going off to wander Tokyo as she often does. Usually she returns to the team's 'home' several hours later looking no happier than when she left.<br /> <br />Today marks a very different course of action, however. She waits along one of the city's shopping strips, and notices something. Something that catches her interest and holds it. Something that makes her pull out her phone and call Gaofele and then Hinote.<br /> <br />Her message for them is roughly the same in each call: "I've found something you should come look at. No, it's not dangerous. You don't even have to hurry down here, we've got plenty of time. It's close to where we're setting up 'that'." She doesn't say 'ambush', not in public on a phone in daylight.<br /> <br />And then she waits. There are no monsters running around, no men wielding dark energy attacking her. She isn't crying. Rune doesn't even seem to have any injuries, unless you count her damaged fashion sense in wearing that red scarf.<br /> <br />She is simply standing in front of a pet supplies store. Nothing is obviously wrong about this.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:45|Hinote Kagari (45)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Hinote Kagari gets a call. He blinks. "Alright." is all he says as he puts his phone away and leaves his room. "Dad, I'm going out for a bit--- I'll try to be back for dinner." is all he says as he leaves out the door and begins his walk down the street. Hinote lives in Uminari, so it's not a super long walk to where Runealy is. Besides, he gets some time to mull over things in his head as he walks. Which causes him to bump into people by accident. "O..oh! Sorry--- Sorry!" he has to say constantly.<br /><br />He arrives and---- Runealy is wearing a red scarf.<br /><br />In /July/.<br /><br />Maybe this is... some sort of Waldian thing. So he doesn't comment on it.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:34|Gaofele Doiru (34)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Gao comes strolling along, having been down towards Pikarigaoka. This site in the shopping district is pretty recognizeable; the signage is easy enough to identify no matter the time of day.<br /><br />He looks slightly askance at Rune's scarf; the weather is warm enough that it's rather out of place.<br /><br />But an unseasonable scarf probably isn't what they were called here for. "So, what's caught your attention?" he inquires as he walks up.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:29|Runealy Waldia (29)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"You're here!" Rune waves as Hinoto and Gao arrive. "What got my eye? Well... this." She gestures up at the store's sign, laying out its purpose. Pet supplies. "I know we've been getting what we need from convenience stores and salvaging things elsewhere, but I think we ought to take care of this while we still can." She's in a fairly decent mood, all things considered.<br /> <br />"We can't bring back new furniture to where we live, not without people noticing. But what they sell here is probably a lot smaller. I don't know what they need, but you two probably do... so wouldn't it be nice to pick up some things so Mistpaw is better off? No more improvising. We could just do it right and make things better."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:45|Hinote Kagari (45)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Hinote Kagari blinks, and looks up at the store. "Oh...you want to get things. For the cat--- Mistpaw..." he says with a smile. "Well... I've never had a cat before, but I bet the person inside can make a lot of suggestions..." he says. "I mean, besides, like, a proper cat bed and stuff..." he says as he crosses his arms.<br /><br />"...or catnip..." he thinks as he taps his chin in thought.<br /><br />He hrmmmmmmms.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:34|Gaofele Doiru (34)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Gaofele Doiru blinks for a few moments, then smiles. "Having actual furniture for a cat is an odd concept, but I can see its value," he nods. "It gives them their own place to rest, instead of finding their own anywhere that is convenient for them... which sometimes isn't convenient for their people!"<br /><br />He thinks for a moment as he ponders the store. "We'll definitely have to see what all is available for cats," he muses. "Mistpaw /does/ tend to go through the improvised toys pretty quickly."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:29|Runealy Waldia (29)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Right!" Rune confirms Hinote's guess. "I figured you two would want to be here for this too, and... well, I have no idea how you care for a cat either, so I'd be relying on both of you anyway to do that right. But we have the money, so let's do that."<br /> <br />Then a sharp, enthused nod to Gao. "So let's do it! Between the two of you, I'm sure we can figure it out and get Mistpaw a cat bed and catnip and cat everything! Whatever will do this right."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:45|Hinote Kagari (45)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Hinote Kagari kind of looks towards the store and walks into it, stepping into the store, as he holds the door open to the others. He's immediatly assaulted by the smell of sawdust. Pet stores ALWAYS smell like sawdust. He huhs and looks around as he tilts his head.<br /><br />"Okay... cat stuff is......" he walks on over to the clerk and they discuss things for a bit, mainly, asking questions. Mainly, where is the cat stuff.<br /><br />So he walks on back to the group and motions them over to the farther east end of the store. "He said... the cat stuff is back over here." he says.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:34|Gaofele Doiru (34)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Gaofele Doiru follows Hinote as he leads them through the store. While Gao has gotten more used to the sheer quantity of plenty on Earth, the wide variety of stuff available for pets is still rather mind-boggling.<br /><br />"Comfort for nearly any kind of animal," he murmurs. Sure, there's nothing for, say, horses and other large animals, but those also aren't very common inside of Tokyo, either.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:29|Runealy Waldia (29)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Runealy follows inside with a quick 'thanks' to Hinote for the door-holding, then she's blinking at the same smell others pick up. "Wow... is that normal?" Must be, if Hinote's leading the way and not telling them to flee for their lives from some bizarre Earth air problem. Instead, he's figuring things out and she offers a tiny handwave to the clerk for his help before following Gaofele off to the cat section ."It's still kind of amazing, even two months later. Stores here are so big and have so much more stuff, but it all looks identical. I can't imagine how craftsmen produce the /exact/ same thing a dozen times with no variation at all!" She's impressed by that. "So... what do we need?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:45|Hinote Kagari (45)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Hinote Kagari thinks, oh, right! "Well... we have facotories that use machines that make things time and time again perfectly... assembly lins... stuff like that." he says. He walks down the aisle and thinks a bit. "A bed... maybe... one of those small towers.. with the hidey places... and scratching posts... catnip... uh..."<br /><br />"A collar. Flea collar. Just in case." he says. "I'm sure the cat isn't flea ridden, but, you know." he says.<br /><br />"Uh.. a flea collar keeps fleas away! It doesn't attract them." he says.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:34|Gaofele Doiru (34)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Perhaps some cat toys?" Gao suggests. "Mistpaw likes playing with spare string, but sometimes there's none available." Besides, it's fun watching the kitten pouncing on things!<br /><br />As they approach the area of cat supplies, one of the first things he notices are the shelves filled with various cat toys. Bells, feathers, lengths of fabric, base-mounted and handheld -- a bedazzling array of things to keep cats entertained! "Uh, wow," he blinks.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:29|Runealy Waldia (29)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Rune's eyes widen as Hinote describes something that sounds impossible to her. Yet 'sounds impossible' is not the same as 'unbelievable'; Tokyo is full of things she would have never even conceived in her mind just days before coming to this world. "Machines... like your automobiles, but for building things? That sounds like it would put craftsmen out of work in a hurry, right?" There's probably an interesting economic discussion in that, but it might be beyond her to grasp at this time.<br /> <br />And just as she accepts the idea of 'assembly lines' with little prompting, she goes along with everything Hinote lists to buy. "We'll get all of those! Unless it's going to totally destroy our budget," and she's assuming 'things for cats' aren't absurdly expensive in Tokyo, "We'll make sure the fourth member of the team has what they need, okay?"<br /> <br />This is followed by an enthused nod to Gao as she helps browse through the toys. "Mistpaw gets those too, then! Sounds fair, with how they brighten things up. You had a good idea bringing them in."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:45|Hinote Kagari (45)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Hinote Kagari blinks a moment. Something still bugs him... and he doesn't know why. He just shakes his head as he looks through the toys. "There's... hrm." he picks out a cat bed and taps his toe a moment. All while his mind wanders. He taps one of the shelves a moment. Oh right, he knows what's bugging him now.<br /><br />"So... uh. Is the scarf a Waldian thing I'm not aware of?" he asks Runealy offhandedly. "I mean.. like. Should I be wearing one? I don't see Gao with one, so.. is it just the girls?..." he asks a little.<br /><br />He then knocks down a rack of catnip. "Whoops...!"<br /><br />He begins picking up containers.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:34|Gaofele Doiru (34)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Gaofele Doiru finds a cat toy with a length of relatively durable fabric. He gives it a few practice waves, and it twitches around like a larger, more colorful cousin of the thread that he had used previously. "This one looks good," he nods, gathering up the loose end.<br /><br />He frowns slightly at Hinote's question. While Rune's scarf hadn't been at the front of his mind, the question did highlight its unusualness. Gao helps Hinote pick up the spilled rack of catnip, giving the other Knight a faint headshake and shrug, then glancing at Rune with an inquisitive look.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:29|Runealy Waldia (29)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Utterly lost in most domestic tasks, Runealy simply lets her friends take the lead in picking things out... and gets startled by the question. "Wh!? N... no, it's just..." She scrambles to come up with the right lie; she can't let Hinote or Gaofele find out what she did in order to prove 'that man' wrong about her being unable to do anything useful without them. What she did to be willing to 'lead from the front', and not ask them to begin attacking Tokyo's magical protectors without being willing to fire the first shot in that particular plan.<br /> <br />Especially not while she was trying to bring the two of them out here for something fun, well aware of how negative her mood has been this whole time. It might be extremely justified, but she was trying to do something, even a little something, to break out of that for a little while. 'I'm using what amounts to demon poison in return for power' would ruin that immediately.<br /> <br />And so she lies, in hopes of preserving happiness. The spill of catnip proves a good distraction for her to think, and she kneels down to help with the clean-up. "You okay, Hinote?" Then... the lie. "No, I just wanted something from local fashions." That she had to really do some digging to find this since it's out-of-season isn't brought up. "So I got one. It's just a little something and it's okay, so long as I'm not going on shopping sprees." Shopping sprees for cats aren't likely to be budget-busters. For herself, that might wind up happening. And so it's 'just one thing.'<br /> <br />She glances over to Gao and adds, "It's not something we do as some cultural thing, anyway. You won't be going around with a scarf, right?" The toy he swung around quickly gets her eye-contact after that, with Rune pretending it's more interesting. "That does look good, we'll get that too."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:45|Hinote Kagari (45)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Hinote Kagari whews a bit. "Okay, good." he says. That seems to have literarly been his only concern about it. Something still feels off, but, well, if Runealy wanted something nice, she got sometimes nice. Nothing wrong with that.<br /><br />He picks up containers, but keeps one by placing it on the cat bed, making a pile. He makes sure Gao's Cat toy gets there too.<br /><br />He looks at a bag of cat treats. "...what does... Mistpaw eat anyways. Like... meat..or fish?" he asks.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:34|Gaofele Doiru (34)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"A bit of both -- basically, whatever happens to be available," Gao admits. It might not be the most organized in terms of food, but meat of various forms is Mistpaw's main diet.<br /><br />He does give Rune a slightly worried look, but accepts her explanation for now. Today's focus is on Mistpaw, after all!<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:29|Runealy Waldia (29)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Rune is silently relieved when any further questions on the topic come to an end; she's quick to play along with help stacking things up. "See? Between what you know about these sort of places," a nod to Hinote. "And you being really smart about animals in the first place," another to Gao, "we figured it out!"<br /> <br />Once everything is gathered, she'll help bring it to the front to pay for it. In yen, not silver coins this time; she has had plenty of opportunity to sell some of her home's coins for local money, after all.<br /> <br />And in any case, they have plenty of nice things to bring back for the 'fourth member of the team.' That, at least, feels good.<br> <br>
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