View source for 2948/After school at the Crown

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2017/10/04
|Location=Uminari City - Game Center Crown
|Synopsis=Burgers, fries, ice cream smoothies, challenges, blunt questions, teasing, drawing and revelations. A fairly typical afternoon at the Crown Game Centre for the magical youth of Tokyo.
|Cast of Characters=127,109,141,160,41,213,38,51
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>It has been a while since Naru was part of the 'hang out at the Crown after school' types. Long enough that she even felt obligated to let some folks know that she was going to, because they were utterly unused to seeing her there anymore.<br /><br />Today, however, she's staked out a table upstairs. She's got a lychee milkshake, a plate of fries smothered in cheesey goopy extra fat and calories, and a book that is most distinctly not homework on top of her school books. That would be yet /another/ new sketchbook, which is getting doodles.

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kazuo is only occasionally part of the 'hang out at the Crown after school' types. Partly because he's a little old for the crowd. Mostly because social is something he generally does only when prodded with a fork. Still, he's in the vicinity. By 'in the vicinity' we mean 'he has been getting thrashed by the Sailor V game for the last twenty minutes, and Motoki is starting to occasionally give glances his direction that suggest he doesn't know whether to be appalled or start laughing.' Naru, however, has finally had her milkshake delivered, and therefore Kazuo detaches himself from his bane and makes his way upstairs to join her. "Did you manage to stay awake in that class?" is his version of hello, today.

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>It wasn't exactly surprising for Kukai Souma to receive a text from Naru. That was how the two of them tended to communicate, despite Kukai's enjoyment of the time he's spent with her. But after long enough having her name not pop up, when it finally did he was a little taken aback, even more so with the semi-formal and undirected message from her. <br /><br /> Still, Naru popping up at the arcade again is a great deal of fun, so he made his way there after school, Daichi, filled with energy and making laps around him in midair, and after looking around for a bit finds her upstairs at one of the tables. It's also quite obvious she's not alone, with Wall-kun over at the Sailor V machine making discrenable motions of frustration, which for Kazuo means his forehead's crinkled. Kukai grins and approaches the table about the same time Kazuo makes his way over as well. "Who stays awake in class, anyway? And hiya you two!"

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>You can usually gauge Lacrima's well being on how out of place she dresses on a normal day. When she's stable, she dresses like a completely normal person. When she's having a bad emotional time, it's always super fancy practically out of time period dresses. If she was that bad off well. She wouldn't BE in public.<br /><br />Right now, she's wearing completely elaborate purple dress. This would surprise no one given the last week, as she makes her way up the stairs, having drawn the hem of the skirt into her hands before resting them when she makes it to the top. Eyes trace the Fruits Parlor Crown upstairs as she purses her lips. Ah. There's Naru. She makes her way over quickly, before pausing a moment. Then turning towards the counter. She obtains exactly two chocolate milkshakes before she begins walking back towards Naru. Oh. Kazuo is there now.<br /><br />"Hello, Naru-chan, Kazuo-kun." she says politely. "May I please sit down with you?" she asks.<br /><br />Both milkshakes are probably for hers. At least it's only /two/ and also 'not also a giant pile of hamburgers' like Ami witnessed.<br /><br />Oh. Kukai, too now. "Hello Kukai-kun." she says. "How are you?"

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Tenticles were the key." Naru replies to Kazuo with just as much prelude and 'hi there! How's it going?' The sketchbook that she's got going currently is far more colourfully endowed than the photos that Kazuo has been receiving, and less focus and direction.<br /><br />"Hey Kukai!" Naru waves to him as he appears next to the table. "How's things?" The wave encompasses Lacrima too. "Pull up a seat." She invites the other girl. "How're you?"

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Good afternoon, the both of you." Possibly it might not be the best of plans to treat Lacrima and Kukai like a collective entity, but they managed to escape unscathed from the last thing that sort of tried to treat them that way, so Kazuo risks it. He inclines his head to each of them separately, though. "You are of course welcome. And class obviously has completely insufficient opportunity to run any distance. How have you both been? I saw Nadeshiko in passing a few days ago, but wasn't fortunate enough to have the opportunity to ask." Or wasn't unfortunate enough to irritate Temari into Large Bladed Weaponry. This time.

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kukai doesn't even see Lacrima approach from one side. He pauses, then reaches over, giving her a friendly pat on the back as she approaches. "Hey Lacrima-chan. I'm ok. How're you?" Obviously he doesn't know Lacrima's 'more elegant=better off' cues. He eyes one of the milkshakes for a moment before nodding to Naru and Kazuo, then blinks. "Wait. Tentacles? Uh. What's going on here?" He eyes Naru's new sketchbook for a moment, wondering what's inside. <br /><br /> Daichi, however, has a more single track mind, waving to everyone and then flitting over towards the kitchen, taking in the scents. Grilled meats, fried potatoes and flour, savory cheeses and sauces... It's a little surprising to see so much drool coming from such a little Chara. <br /><br /> Kukai nods to Kazuo and smiles. "It's good to see you as well Kazuo. I haven't seen you in a while - how're you doing? And thank you. I'm gonna get something to eat before Daichi flies into a french fry fryer, then I'll be over. And yeah, she's doing really well, now! We're both doing good. Almost boringly good, but honestly any time I can take her pastries after class and the biggest problem we have that night is worrying about the calories is a good night." He grins, then nods, dipping off to make a quick order.

:'''{{#var:41|Sakura Kinomoto| (41)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Sakura Kinomoto was in heaven. She was on a date, she was on a date, she was on a date! She came into the crown, rollerskating besides Yukito, hearts rising over her head as the boy just seemed completely and utterly clueless to everything. <br /><br /> Well, okay, she was helping him with errands for school, but it was just the two of them and that was kind of a date! Haruna-sempai would agree, she was sure. <br /><br /> "Okay, Sakura-chan. I'll be a little bit. How about you go play some games, okay? And get a snack from upstairs." He said before giving her a small candy and a few coins. She watched him go. <br /><br /> "Yukito..." she whispered dreamily, hearts rising off her head. Oh, she had it bad. Still, games, games. And food! She slipped into her shoes, carrying her roller blades upstairs and walked by. "Yu-ki-to-sem-pai~" she sang dreamily as she skipped by. Then... Stopped and looked over. "Kukai-kun? Kazuo-sempai? Naru-sempai? Lacrima-chan? What are all of you doing here?'

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima sits and begins drinking her first milkshake. If she shows any offense in being included in the same hello as Kukai it doesn't show externally. She eyes Kazuo though. "What are we talking about. Tentacles? Is that it? Why?" she eyes around almost paranoid like. Did. Did Mister Squiggles get out again?<br /><br />She eyes Naru and then over to Kukai again before. Oh dear. It's Sakura. The card girl. She sighs a little. "Hello Sakura-chan. Naru-chan invited people over so I decided to come because I was already in the area." she says. That may be a lie. But really anywhere is in the area when all of Tokyo is just 'one dusk step away'. She's about done the first shake already. Oops.<br /><br />Maybe she should had ordered three... hundred. Or something.

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Tenticles." Naru nods sagely to Kukai, keeping a straight face and then starting to giggle. "I was doodling in class and today's drawing prompt is 'underwater'." She explains, without really explaining all that much.<br /><br />"If you're worried about calories, Kukai.. you can come on one of my runs with me!" She offers with an impish grin as she reaches for a french fry that illustrates quite plainly that she is not counting calories, no matter how slender she might be.<br /><br />"Hey Sakura!" Naru waves her loaded french fry at the younger girl, and then eats it quickly to ensure that she doesn't get cheese on anything on the table. She'd be less concerend about getting it on homework, but sketchbook! That's important to keep cheese off of.

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Therefore she drew a sea monster." Kazuo lifts a hand casually. "Tentacles." Not escaped pets. Unless there are new escaped aquatic pets. He's not asking.<br /><br />The lifted hand is converted to a wave toward Sakura. "Good afternoon. I'm over here often enough, personally; a friend of Mamoru's works here." Conspiracies over whether or not Mamoru is actually getting out often enough may or may not occur on a regular basis.<br /><br />He tilts his head toward Kukai's departure, and glances toward the kitchen as well. No, Motoki isn't reacting to Daichi's investigations. In some ways, good. In some ways -- well, Kukai can handle the risky part.

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kukai returns after placing his order, carrying a milkshake, and aaahs at Naru's description. "Oh. Ok, that makes sense. But now I want takoyaki. Dang it." He sighs, then grins, sitting down in the offered chair. He looks over at the sound of his name and waves at Sakura. "Hi! It's a public place, and Naru's come out from hiding, so I came to visit her. I think Lacrima did too, and Kazuo followed Naru." <br /><br /> Kukai snorts and grins at Naru. "You mean you can go on one of ''my'' runs with ''me''. I'll show you some of my super hard core training!" He grins, waving his drink at her. "But no. We decided that we'd just work extra hard the next day and wear it all off." He hears his name being called and stands up, going back over to get his food, more french fries, a ketchup dipper, and a big hamburger with bacon and more ketchup. "Not quite as good as the burgers at the diner where my friend Sion used to work, but they're really close." <br /><br /> Daichi has already attacked the french fries, nomming hungrily at one.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu makes his way to the floor he is rather less commonly seen at. In his less noticeable days he was rather frequently with the games. It's less common this past two weeks, thanks to meeting people and getting a job. He's wearing his usual, super casual look, meaning some people are only seeing what an untamed bush his hair normally is for the first time. He's got a bag slung over one shoulder to take care of the book stuff. <br /><br />"Hey Naru, sorry I'm a little behind, one of the dolphins came down with something!" He pauses... "Oh, hey, the jack of the school, Lacrima, and the quiet dude are here! How's it going, guys?!"

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Oooooh.. that sounds like a /challenge/." Naru notes to Kukai as he settles with his snack. "Who can keep up with whose workout, hmm? Cause I think you just tried to say I can't keep up with one of your runs." Which, to be fair, might actually be true, but it's hardly any fun to admit that.<br /><br />"Hey Makio!" Naru pauses in her trash talk to Kukai to wave to him. "Pull up a seat.. do you know everyone?" She watches him name most people and then nods. "Clearly yes.. and that's Sakura." She adds the one he's missing to the greetings.

:'''{{#var:41|Sakura Kinomoto| (41)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Sakura Kinomoto blinked a few times, cocking her head to the side. Then... "Wait. Dolphins?" The eleven year old girl turned on the boy and blinked. "Like the ones from the new water park?" she asked, cocking her head to the side, then eeking. "O-oh! Right! I'm Sakura Kinomoto!" She folded her hands over her lap and bowed politely. "Hello, and nice to meet you! I-- EEK!" And then flailed a bit. "Ack I need to get my order!" And ran off. Within a few moments, she came back. "I ordered a large fries. Yukito-sempai loves the french fries..." And there it was, content, happy sakura.

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kazuo has time for a "Hello, Daichi," not expecting a response with the mouth full, before Makio turns up and he turns his attention away from the chara. There clearly is no chara. Everything is normal here. He inclines his head gravely to Makio; apparently he accepts 'the quiet one' in lieu of an actual name.<br /><br />He blinks at Sakura's squeak, then blinks at her departure; and while she's gone, there's the question to the air of, "Did she just attempt to ''imitate'' a dolphin?" From the resigned tone, he's not expecting an answer there, either.

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima takes a deep breath after Kazuo explains. Nevermind she doesn't need to actually breathe but it's one of those left over human habits. She mutters a bit. She looks over to Makio and hrmmms. That waiter at that new cafe.<br /><br />When Makio calls Kazuo the quiet dude she snorts audibly and visibly. She calms herself quickly though.<br /><br />"Yes we've met before." she says bluntly. "But not in long conversations. More in passing." she says to Naru. She eyes Sakura and winces at the 'Eek'. Ow. Her ears.

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kukai gets one bite into his sandwich before Naru starts talking. Quietly he sets the burger down and grins at her. Not exactly a friendly grin - more of a 'you have challenged my capabilities and now must be buried in my back yard' grin. "Is that a challenge to a race, Naru?" He hops to his feet, the burger and everyone else forgotten. "Anytime, and anywhere! We'll go right now if you want! I'll run so many circles around you you'll have a permanent moat following you around!" There's that little faint green light in his eyes, the same one Daichi has in his as well.

:'''{{#var:41|Sakura Kinomoto| (41)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Sakura Kinomoto blinked a few times and looked up at them. "Wait, are you two going to have a race? Can I join? I love racing!" She always won the long distance run each year, usually why a wide margin. She gave a big grin at them, complete void of the competitiveness of Kukai. It was just a young girl wanting to play with her friends.

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Naru sees that grin from Kukai, and returns it. It's /that/ sort of grin. The 'bring it' sort of grin. "Sprint or distance? Cause if I'm not mistaken, you and I specialize in different things." She reaches for another fry to eat, clearly not quite in a rush to hop up and go on a race right this very second.<br /><br />"Either dolphins, Kazuo, or calling every dog in Tokyo. One or the other." Naru comments almost absently and then nods to Sakura. "If you want to run, you can, once we decide on the details."

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu nods in reply to Naru. "I saw him when I met you," he states, guesturing to Kazuo. He doesn't remember his name if he'd been told it. No offense to Kazuo, but he never really got to talk to the guy. "I've seen Lacrima passingly several times, and the Jack here has helped me out big time."<br /><br />"With Sakura being introduced he grins and offers a small wave. "Nice to meet you, I'm Makio Ryu. Yeah, that park, I hang around there a lot." The unmatching shock of his hair scrunches up some as he snickers at her excitement and the reactions to it. He then pulls up a seat and carefully sets his bag down.

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>This is a table where one of the people regularly literally refers to Kazuo as Wall-kun. Names are obviously highly overrated. At the mention that Kukai's helped Makio out, though, Kazuo tilts his head and gives Kukai an inquiring glance ... which is completely wasted.<br /><br />"Food is to be finished before any racing," he says, in almost the same resigned tone he did with Sakura. Odds of people listening? Not so good, when Kukai gets that light in his eye. A side glance goes to Lacrima. "That, or you may have the option of supplementing your milkshake shortly." He is not Kyouko. He won't actually ''stab'' people for tossing out still-edible food. He'll just seriously consider it if necessary.

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kukai grins at Sakura and nods. "Yes we are! I'll race anyone who challenges me! You can eat my dust just like everybody else!" Kukai watches Naru munch another fry and then leans over. "C'mon, we can go right now if you want!" He looks over to Kazuo for a moment, and just a little of that fire fades. "The food.. we can take the food with us and eat after! It's no good to run as hard as we're going to run on a full stomach!" He makes to pick up his sandwich and fries and drink and has a little trouble plotting out where he's going to get his extra hand from. "Uh. One second." <br /><br /> Daichi yelps as the french fry he was hanging onto gets lifted up, but still keeps his eyes on Naru and Sakura.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu has to nod in agreement with Kazuo, actually. "No swimming seriously right after food," he says, "Not that it's swimming, but I'm sure it's the same for land racing as it is for sea...digestion should happen first." Chances are he'd never bother to prod anyone about it if someone else hadn't of said it though. Turns out that someone listened to Kazuo anyway though!

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima already on milkshake number two. Nearly DONE with number two. She gets up to order two more. And also. five burgers. Five yes. She'll pay of course for that many at one time but this is also nothing new for her to do at the crown.<br /><br />Uh oh. Kukai is getting competitive. That's bad. She sighs and sits back down with her new milkshakes as she waits for 'all the burgers'.<br /><br />"So Makio-san. You work at some sort of water park in the city? Is it all outdoors? Winter is coming soon." she offers.

:'''{{#var:41|Sakura Kinomoto| (41)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Sakura Kinomoto blinks a few times. Her cheeks go red. "I, ummm, I can't go right now. I'm on a date," she said, her cheeks going bright, bright red. And kind of fidgeting and... <br /><br /> "Sakura-chan!" And yukito came walking up the stairs. And Sakura eeked and flailed and... "H-hi! Um, um, Yukito-sempai, this is Makio-kun and Lacrima-chan and Kukai-sempai and Naru-Sempai and Kazuo-sempai," she said, face so red. <br /><br /> Yukito walked over and bowed politely. "Hello, I am Yukito Tsukishiro, a friend of Sakura's brother. A pleasure to meet you." <br /><br /> "I, umm, I-I got us fries!" she squeaked. <br /><br /> "Oh, that's really great, Sakura-chan. Did you want to hang around with your friends? I can--" <br /><br /> "NO! I-I wanna keep helping you!" Oh gosh her face was on fire.

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Terms, Kukai." Naru isn't going anywhere wihtout further negotation. "How far and where. I'm totally willing to do this right now.. well shortly.. but not without some rules in place, so plunk your butt back on a chair and set some guidelines." She reaches for her milkshake. "Left to me, I vote with a 20k run and no extras, although hey.. you want to do a tri, I am /in/, but do want a wetsuit for that."<br /><br />Naru quirks a brow at the notion of Sakura on a 'date', but has a smile and a wave for Yukito as he joins the group. "Nice to meet you."

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Dangling Daichi. Kazuo's eyes track him only for a moment, before he dismisses the problem as 'generally charas can fly' and returns his attention to the larger people at the table. Like Makio helping. Well, he probably doesn't know about that little problem, and Naru has that topic covered.<br /><br />Sakura being on a date prompts the white-haired man's eyebrows to rise, though. At least he avoids too much of a skeptical stare at her. She's crimson enough already.<br /><br />-- ahh. That's the date. "Good afternoon," he says to Yukito, and then amplifies Sakura's frantic sequence of introductions. "Kazuo Takeba. I've helped Sakura find a few lost things, now and then."<br /><br />There will be no comment about Naru's threatened impromptu triathlon. None.

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kukai nods at Sakura - her refusal of the immediate challenge enough to calm him down a little. He turns back to Naru, just in time to hear another new voice, turning to look at Yukito. He blinks, shaking his head, hearing Naru's voice as well, enough to shake off most of the challenge and nods to Yukito. "It's nice to meet you too, Yukito!" He turns back to Naru and thinks. "Whatever you wanna do! I can run as fast or as far as you want to try me!" <br /><br /> Kukai nods over to Makio after a moment. "Well. I guess I don't want an unfair advantage over Naru. She's been eating, I haven't." He thinks, then reaches down, picking up his burger and taking a bite out of it, still not firing on all cylinders, watching Naru.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu nods toward Lacrima. "Yes, I work at the Uminari Sea Park. It's almost all outdoors, but it does have things in place to help regulate tempratures for tue guests and animals. The bench seatings are covered and have heating systems."<br /><br />Makio's one, visable eye blinks a little at the situation with Sakura and Yukito. "Hey Yukito...and what are you helping with," he wonders, "Maybe you can do both?" Granted, she's on a date and that might be a problem but, well, he wasn't considering that part.

:'''{{#var:41|Sakura Kinomoto| (41)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Yukito blinked. "Oh? You work at the sea park? I'd love to come by sometimes. Sakura-chan, I've been meaning to go there." <br /><br /> Sakura's face lit up. <br /><br /> "I think your brother has this weekend off. We could all go then." <br /><br /> Face fell. She moped. <br /><br /> "We do need to get a few more things settled before we go meet with Sakura-chan's brother. Are you sure you don't want to stay, Sakura-chan?" <br /><br /> "I'm sure! L-let's keep going!" She said, before grabbing the fries, her skates, and the two headed out the door. Sakura giving him love longing looks the whole time and him blissfully ignorant.

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Then Yukito. Yukito immediatly reminds her of Eilam-kun which causes her to just blush a little as she huffs. Sakura? On a date with him!? She just shakes her head. "Hello Yukito-san." she says softly. "I'm sure you two will have fun." she says as she watches the two head for the door. She eyes Kazuo and raises a brow quizzically.<br /><br />She leans forward. "Not that I am judging." she says.<br /><br />"But doesn't that relationship seem a little skewed to you in a few ways?" she asks curiously.<br /><br />She then leans back and sips at her milkshake again.<br /><br />"Ah. I'll have to come by soon then." she says softly. "When I'm not trying to mentally recover from a bad week." she offers.

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"How about this Kukai.. I totally have been eating and it's true.. bad plan to race on a full stomach, espeically something heavy like cheese fries." Naru isn't quite rabid for the competition as Kukai is, but certainly willing. "Tomorrow after school, then we get to actually prepare and not just spontaneous, but soon enough that it's not like either of us can magically get into better shape for it. Tomorrow after school, we run. If you aren't protesting a 20k run, then I'm in for that. I'll send you the route when I get home, so that you can see that it's fair, and we'll see who wins.." She laughs warmly. "Likely you, but I betcha it's not going to be the complete rout you're expecting.. I'm fond of distance runs. You've been warned."<br /><br />There's a glance to Yukito and Sakura and the details on their 'date' and Naru can't help but chuckle softly, shaking her head. "Oh dear."

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Tomorrow. A run ''tomorrow.'' Excellent. Kazuo stops eyeing Kukai quite so warily, settling back...<br /><br />... so that he can watch Sakura's retreating back with a particularly wry expression. "Skewed? Perhaps. Imagined? Definitely." He inclines his head a little in Makio's direction. "Your park may be due for an interesting weekend."

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kukai nods at Naru and then grins, sitting back down. "OK! We'll run, then, and see who wins! It'll be fun!" He leans back, the charge from his Chara finally gone, then blinks and turns to see Sakura heading out the door. "Oh, man. I didn't say hello or how are you or anything. ...Crap." His eyes flicker over to Makio and he grins weakly. "Hi. Sorry. How are you?" <br /><br /> Lacrima speaks and Kukai manages to look back over at her. "Huh? What's wrong, Lacrima? When you have a bad week I tend to have a bad week, so..." <br /><br /> Daichi has returned to the fries and a little piece of burger, sitting on the table.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu waits till Sakura's out of ear shot to shake his head and murmur in agreement with Lacrima, "Someone's setting themselves up for heart break, huh?" "Anyway, what are we studying," he wonders as he digests the fact that they've still got a bit of a varried seeming group here.<br /><br />"Interesting weekend," he aks Kazuo, "Cause of those guys?" A wave is given at Kukai's belated greeting. He tries not to watch Daichi, but he can't help it as it occurs to him how cute it is that the little dude is sitting there with his LITTLE piece of burger.

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Naru grins right back to Kukai. "It will be fun! I'm totally looking forward to it." She nudges her sketchbook that's sitting on top of her homework as Makio asks about it. "I am completely ignoring social studies for the moment, in favour of eating my fries while they are hot, and working in colour cause apparently four whole days of monochrome is already wearing thin, but it's a good challenge. Remind me of that at the end of the month when I'm randomly turning things all different colours."<br /><br />Naru glances to Makio and then glances to Daichi and then casually offers Daichi a cheesy fry, because hey.. he's got a wee burger and he does have fries, but not /cheesy/ fries, and there's a soft little 'mmm' at the lack of Makio thinking Naru's insane for offering the table a fry. Interesting.<br /><br />"I'm sorry to hear you're having a rough time, Lacrima." Naru comments quietly.

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima eyes Kukai. "Various things I'd rather not talk about." she says softly. "It's done, over. No one is permanently harmed." she sighs a bit and looks to Naru and nods a bit. Makio can see Daichi so that confirms something in the back of her head. She saves it for later.<br /><br />She tsks at Kazuo. "I'm sure she'll survive that particular bit of... things. Though the boy seems oblivious." she says. She sighs a bit and goes to pickup her burgers. Returning with five of them and begining to eat. She's eating them all. Yes. None are making it out of her with her. Burgercide.

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kazuo inclines his head to Lacrima's description of 'things she'd rather not talk about,' and does not, alas, share any comment about ham sandwiches or Mister Squiggles. The request has been lodged and shall duly be considered. It probably helps that the people he's heard from about them have all still been giggling.<br /><br />"Undoubtedly," Kazuo agrees to the odds of Sakura's survival. "Hopefully any crises will take place out of the public eye." He nods to Makio as well. "Sakura tends to be extraordinarily ... energetic. It often gets her into places that many people in the area would prefer she not be in. Fortunately, I've never heard of any terrible consequences from people falling into those particular dolphin tanks, but if you know of any creatures there that look cuddly but will attempt to eat your face, we might want to pass quiet word to her brother to keep a sharp eye out."<br /><br />Also, God help all of them if there's a Shark card.<br /><br />Naru pokes a cheesy fry at Daichi. Kazuo glances between her and Kukai, the Makio, wthout a word.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu nods in agreement with Naru's comment to Lacrima. "Yeah, your mail getting mixed up was probably a smaller part of the week..." That seems like an odd detail for him to know considering he's only has passing crosses with Lacrima before. That, and it likely only further cements what Lacrima was confirming.<br /><br />"You mean like nearly everything," he asks of Kazuo, "/Yeah/, I'll have to make sure the right people are on alert then. I mean some of them couldn't EAT her but that doesn't make them less dangerous. Alot of those guys look cute and innocent, but in the wrong situations they'd just as soon drownd you as look at you."<br /><br />He'd look back to Naru and note. "It was amazing how much detail you did with just one pen. I can deffinetly see one color being a buzz kill though."

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Daichi ooohs and reaches up, munching the cheesy fry, holding onto it with both hands. Kukai catches Kazuo's eyes and grins. "It's fine, he can see Daichi. Don't worry." He looks back over to Lacrima and wrinkles his forehead. Anytime Lacrima doesn't want to talk about things, she's been doing dark-involved things, and that means bad things. He does blink at the pile of burgers. "Wow. Ok. I didn't know you did that." <br /><br /> Kukai shrugs and then grimaces. "Well, if it does hopefully she'll be able to deal with them better than the last one. It was bad." He chuckles at the idea of Sakura in the dolphin tank. "Oh man. Don't you have otters? She'll be in the otter tank. That'll be funny. Take pictures."

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Technically more than one pen. One colour.. but that used a ballpoint and a couple sizes of sharpie. All black though, but the inks .." Naru pauses and glances around at a collection of people who really don't care about the details in difference between pens. "Yeah. Just black and white. That's why its a challenge."<br /><br />"I'm not sure I've ever /gone/ to the water park other than on school trips where generally we just tried to keep Usagi out of too much trouble." Naru mmms softly. "I should sometime."<br /><br />Naru ahs softly as Kukai explores his subtle side and confirms that Daichi is a go for everyone at the table, but if she has comment, she doesn't voice it.

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"And if they look cute and innocent," Kazuo sighs at Makio, "obviously they must be cuddled." Apparently he has met Sakura ever. Apparently he also has childcare experience. He rakes a couple of straying locks of hair back behind his shoulder with his fingers -- then relaxes at Kukai's reassurance, and just nods back to him. There is no comment about Naru's drawing right now. None.

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima frowns at Makio. "Ah. So you were there. At least it was only the one gorilla and not all the animals." she says curtly. "I didn't like the newer king king movies anyways." she a little. She does purse her lips and looks around. Does.. does the Dusk Zone even have liquid? or ... a 'water' analouge? She's never seen one yet. Does the Dusk Zone have aquatic life as Earth may know it?<br /><br />Oh god now she's stuck in a ponderance loop that only burger number two can drag her away from. WHICH it does.<br /><br />"I'm going to try to visit tomorrow." she offers to Kazuo. "I have that book to drop off. And Mamoru-kun says he has something for me." she says.<br /><br />She huffs. Mister Squiggles is super cuddly. :(

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu is SURE Mister Squiggles would be cuddly. Rather, he would be sure if he even knew what Mister Squiggles is. With Kukai assuring the other that Makio can see Daichi, he gives a nod. If he realises what this entails, he's acting totally clueless. "I've said it to some people before, but if you guys want, I can give you some ins on the more expensive features of the park."

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Naru nudges her finally empty fry dish away and reaches for a napkin to clean off her fingers. Forks would have been tidier, but fingers are far more fun. "Do you do tours, Makio?" She asks with a grin. "Inside information about silly things that happen behind the scenes?<br /><br />Naru is comfortable enough with the state of her fingers to go digging for a marker and continue the sketch she's working on. Currently a riot of colours that are slowly resolving themselves into a brilliant country garden, or field of wildflowers, context is unclear yet.

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"We'll be pleased to see you," Kazuo says gravely to Lacrima. "I'll take a look around tonight and take a quick check to make certain no-one's left anything that might be unpleasant for you lying around, just in case."<br /><br />Like his father. It would be an ''excellent'' time to make certain his father is nowhere around.<br /><br />(Success probability on this is somewhat less than certain.)<br /><br />The water park conversation -- that he stays on the fringes of, now. Visits and tours and dolphins. Maybe today's Inktober themes just aren't to his preference.

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kukai nods. "I keep meaning to drop by Mamoru's apartment, but I kinda feel like it'd be rude to just drop in. And I still feel like I don't know everyone I'd see very well, so I don't want to intrude." He grins at Makio about the inside scoop on the park, leaning back to continue his burger and fries with ketchup, relaxing.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu says, "I've not done tours before, but it doesn't mean I can't start. Goodness knows I'd be one of the best people for the job. I've not only been there as much or more than some people that work there without doing a job, but I'm the child of one of the owners. There's some special features though, that are only available to certain people or guests who pay an exhorbant amount of money...things like getting to swim with the dolphins or learn how to make them do trinks...other things that are more direct interactions with the different animals than the park usually allows."<br /><br />He pulls some books out of his bag before continuing to ignore them anyway. Stupid math....go away math...

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"It's hard to get to know the people who are there if you don't stop by." Naru points out reasonably. "I'm there moderately often, although less just to hang out now that I'm far more likely to be just downstairs.. but the rules are on the wall, and it's a social place." She takes a long sip of milkshake. "If it's not a good time, someone will say. Or it will be blindingly obvious, possibly not to everyone, but then we go back to someone will say."<br /><br />"I don't /really/ need to go swimming with dolphins, or any expensive features. Not without paying for it at least." Naru shakes her head a little at Makio. "I mean, that just seems like taking advantage of you being cool. Still, informal tour sounds really cool." She grins brightly, adding a few more marker strokes to the flowers on her page.

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kazuo glances at Kukai, his eyebrows twitching up. "There is an open invitation, to the point at which we don't lock the entry doors; there is only one exception to that invitation at present, and that one is most certainly not you. There is a ''particular'' invitation, because we like you and don't see you often enough. The residents are currently down to Mamoru and four out of five of the rest of us -- Kyouko has her own place, with her sister -- plus a fox who is usually napping, and the resident rosebush. Our other long-term guests are gone; Unmei has her own apartment now, and my father is, thankfully, back home. We can't guarantee a lack of random other visitors, of course, and we do understand if you'd prefer not to deal with that uncertainty."<br /><br />Well, there's evidence he can manage more than a dozen syllables at a time. Kazuo glances aside at the math books with a trace of interest, but doesn't prod. They will be opened or not in due time.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu raises a brow at a fox and a rosebush being considered long term guests. Well, hey, it makes total sense. Makio, himself, is technically part seal, so he doesn't bother to question. "Yeah, I hear The Gent' is like a sempai for most people around here."

:'''{{#var:141|Kukai Souma| (141)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kukai nods and finishes the last few bites of his fries, the burger long gone by now. "Well... ok. I'll come by at some point and introduce myself again to anybody who doesn't know me, as long as the city isn't on fire or something. And yeah." He grins. "I like you guys too." He nods and scoops up Daichi, who's mostly full and quite lazy now. "I'll come by at some point and say hell. Thank you for the invitation. I'm gonna go see if Nadeshiko's done with her dance training, and I'll see you all later!" He waves and carries off his tray.

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Do.. do I know who the current exception is?" Naru muses thoughtfully at Kazuo's words and then mmms softly. She wasn't listed amongst those who live there, nor long term guest, but clearly she's well familiar with the place. "Unless it hasn't changed, even while I've been caught up in my own head."<br /><br />"Mamoru is pretty awesome." Naru can't argue there. "I feel bad relying on him as much as I do, sometimes, but on the other hand, I understand how nice it is to be able to help those you care about and feel needed. Fine line.. like so much in the world is."<br /><br />"Take care, Kukai." Naru waves after him. "Say hi to Nadeshiko for me."

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Good evening, Daichi, Kukai. It'll be good to see you. Please say hello to the three of them for us, too, and let Nadeshiko know we're sorry we missed her." Apparently Kazuo has gotten stalled in the plural pronoun. He bows his head toward Kukai's departure, and then turns his attention back to the remaining pair.<br /><br />'The Gent.'<br /><br />Kazuo regards the middle distance for just a moment, carefully expressionless, before he turns ''quite'' back to Makio and Naru a second time. There. Laughter will not happen. This second. "He has some advantages, and feels considerable gratitude to the community for standing up for him a couple of years ago. So we try to repay that, along with a few other things."<br /><br />The exception? "Locke," Kazuo says to Naru. "Not quite actually banned, but ... strongly recommended that he come back when he's intent on actually working on his situation. Or at least when he's not bent on compounding it by drowning himself in self-pity with a splash of dramatic despair."

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu waves after Kukai. "See ya Jack," he calls, still not having noticed any possible discomfort Kukai seems to have with that name. Locke? That's a name he hasn't met with yet. "Sounds like a real winner," he says with some sarcasm, "But I guess he'd have to be to get kicked out of this gang..."

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Less kicked out and more on time out until he's sorted himself out in his own head a bit more." Naru shakes her head. "He's had some challenges and hasn't quite yet worked out that others have faced similar things and worked past it, and is still in the 'no one understands, this is worse than anything' wallowing stage, which isn't actually accompanied with any level of 'so how do I get past this'." She pauses a moment. "And that'll come, or it won't, but no one but him can get him past the 'woe is me' stage of it all. Trying to force it just makes everyone miserable."<br /><br />Naru quirks a wry grin. "Not that I'm always in a position to judge, certainly I'm in a very glass house to throw stones about not being in a good headspace."

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Also, his particular challenges include leaking a corrupting energy wherever he goes and occasionally unintentionally summoning monsters. We do need to be careful of our other guests' health." Kazuo gestures slightly with one hand, not indicating anything in specific. "Someone like Lacrima, who's generally in control of herself, is welcome to visit. Someone who isn't putting in the work to acquire control is not. When he starts doing the work, that may be another matter. Hopefully he will."

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu nods in agreement with Naru. "I guess I am too, but, you know, I try not to make a scene about it. I don't act much different on the outside now than I did before I decide to stop keeping myself at a distance. I like seeing people happy, so...not looking happy isn't going to help." He tilts his head some as Kazuo mentions Locke unintentionally summoning monsters. "...ok that sounds like it sucked for /everyone/ involved."

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Naru wrinkles up her nose with the same sort of casual irritation at Kazuo's comment as if he'd said that an acquaintance was spreading a flu bug around. "Really? Well that's annoying. I hadn't realized that was going on. I haven't seen him in ages, truthfully.<br /><br />Naru glances sidelong at Makio and gestures with her marker. "And your lack of freak out, and that comment basically makes me stop wondering if I should just /ask/ or not. Cause clearly you have some grasp on the underlying levels of weird in Tokyo."

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"I wasn't around for the occasion on which they apparently got loose, but given the moment I was around for, I'd agree. THere were quite a few of them, and he was only irritated that time."<br /><br />Kazuo pauses, then, to eye Naru. "You fed Daichi in front of him. He did not blink, did not ask about the little sports imp, and did not find some excuse to flee the table unsteadily. Was there doubt?"<br /><br />Makio's mention of not necessarily being happy ... well. He doesn't touch on that.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu chuckles and rubs at the back of his head. "Yeahhhh....Really soon before the first time you saw me I learned some guys used some wave that fused some people with DNA stuff, and I was one of the lucky people... And, soon AFTER you saw me I was around for the aftermath of Lacrima's mail getting mixed up with the zoo's."

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"On purpose even." Naru replies to Kazuo and grins. "But I noticed Daichi long before I was casual about discussing leaking corrupting energy. I suppose I was 18 layers of exceptions upon weirdness though." She makes no comment, necessarily, on how many layers of exceptions and weirdness she is now.<br /><br />Naru turns her attention to Makio. "Congrats, or I'm sorry.. possibly a bit of both. If you have questions.. now or later.. just ask. I very very much remember that utter disorientation when everything was new." She looks curious, complete with eyebrow raise. "I didn't hear about her mail getting mixed up wtih the zoo's.. nor why that would be a /thing/."

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kazuo winces slightly at Makio's story. "Thus the gorilla, I take it. So that was that bizarre energy." As opposed to corrupting energy, dark energy, or any of thirty other flavors that aren't in the physics textbooks. Yet. He adds a confirming nod to Naru's 'if you have questions,' though.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu explains. "She had a shipment of some sort of odd fruit, it got sent to the zoo. She got the zoo's bananas instead. ...And soooo...Bongo the Gorilla at the zoo in Penguin Park, that's very close to the Mew Mew Cafe, ended up eating a load of them and going kinda mini kaiju and throwing a fit til the dark energy got punted right back out of him." He nods at Kazuo's statement. "One and the same." "Oh, and those guys that sent out that wave are my bosses at the cafe. It's like a badily named cover operation or something," he explains, "And I'm still new enough everything's a question, but the better question is how to even ask the questions."

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Naru pauses just to listen to that fiasco and blink a few times. She even pauses in her sketching a moment and then looks back down at the flowers. "I /see/." There are a slew of questions that she probably wants to ask, that she is quite certain toat Makio doesn't have the answers for. "Well that's interesting. Is Bongo feeling better? I hope?"<br /><br />"Ahh, well you see.. I generally went with lists and just peppering people.. and by people I mean Kazuo a whole lot, with basically all of my questions. Many of them stupid, some of them without answers, but I provided a /lot/ of questions to start." Naru glances briefly to Kazuo and then back to Makio. "So my advice would be to just spit them out. Or text them. If they don't make sense, we can usually sort out what you mean or where you're going with it eventually."

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"-- she got it ''shipped.''" Kazuo lets out a breath, then draws one hand down his face. Slowly. While breathing quietly and steadily. "Ah, well. I suppose that's characteristic of her employers. How kind of them." At least the story settles that the cafe is not, in fact, owned by Luna and Artemis.<br /><br />He hopes.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu crosses his arms on top of his text books he's been ignoring. "I think he is, yes, there's been no signs of any lasting issues," Makio replies in reguards to Bongo. "The place is owned by two scientist guys who are trying to take care of a certain kind of problem... I still don't entirely understand, but they needed specific people that were meldable with the DNA of endangered species..."

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba| (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>And that's when 'the Gent' comes into the Crown, scanning the place for a moment to see if there are a pair of odangos on top of a very blonde head, then looking moderately disappointed. He beelines for Kunzite, Naru, and Makio's table anyway, then deposits himself semi-dramatically in the chair next to Kazuo and blithely interrupts the conversation. "I thought for SURE she was in here. Is she avoiding one of you? Usa, I mean." A beat, and then he lifts his head from where he'd let it hang over the back of the chair to peer at Makio. "I mean, my girlfriend Usagi. Can't miss her if you see her. Really impossibly long hair in pigtails, with buns on the top--" he gestures with his hands "--and really short, and basically running at 110% of normal energy levels 90% of the time."<br /><br />He sits up and glances over the tabletop, then frowns indignantly at Kazuo. A second later, he's holding up a finger to Naru and Makio. "By the way, hi. I'll be right back."<br /><br />He's not much of a Gent today, to be perfectly honest. He's wearing a ratty navy-blue t-shirt with the NASA logo on it, a pair of skinny jeans (and black socks with roses on them for the love of God), a pair of red suede designer shoes, and a red-brown corduroy blazer with suede patches on the elbows -- along with, well, his actual normal glasses. Maybe he dressed in the dark, except he seems to be owning the look.<br /><br />He's also headed for the counter, and when he gets there, he leans across it to grab at the sleeve of a dirty-blond man on the other side who looks roughly the same height as he is.

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"I'm going to run with the hope that neither of these 'scientist guys' are Taka.. is that a fair hope?" Naru asks with a faint hint of dry to her tone.<br /><br />"Usagi was in class today, but we didn't leave together." Naru replies to Mamoru as he flops his way into a chair and asks after the one Naru's known longest, other than her mother. "I don't /think/ she's avoiding me, but she might be if she thinks I'm avoiding her, cause brain weird and so much weird." She gives a little hrm and a shrug. "Not sure."<br /><br />And then Mamoru's off again and Naru looks over to Kazuo briefly before she gives her head a shake and turns back to her sketchbook. The garden is, indeed, shaping up to be a garden rather than a wildflower meadow, with hints of structure to the chaos being added with deft application of darker shading.

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"I haven't seen her today," Kazuo says to Mamoru. "Did you check the Sailor V game?" This is more or less like asking whether the sky is blue; odds of his getting punched in the arm or shoulder, or smacked in the back of the head, as Mamoru gets up are fairly high.<br /><br />Mamoru's departure is taken in stride. Kazuo returns his attention to Makio, listening -- then frowning, slightly perplexed, over the endangered-species issue.<br /><br />There's a pause, and Kazuo regards Naru. "If an Infinity student were running a cafe in his copious spare time, I suspect some people would notice." He pauses. "... no, you're right, they probably wouldn't. Do either of your 'scientist guys' happen to have white hair?"

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu blinks only a /little/ at Mamoru's sudden appearance, and it's rather non gentlemanly sort of way about it. Eh, not like it's crushing dreams or anything. Even Makio can stop being his usual, lazy seal self and take care of his hair for work, after all. "Uh, hiya Gent'," the 'secret' seal boy greets before looking notably more confused and surprized. "That girl sounds familiar. I'm sure I've seen her around here other times I've hung out here." "And no, those guys are named Ryou and Keiichiro," he says in reguard to Naru hoping neither of them are Taka, "And neither of them have white hair. One's blonde and one's brunette...and good looking...then again a LOT of people in this town are!"

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba| (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>(Back of the head, for Kazuo; rueful look for Naru; snappoint at Makio and the correction from 'Gent' to 'Chiba' for him-- but that was before the counter, yes.) The guy on the other side of the counter's glancing past Mamoru at the table where everyone else is sitting, and then shaking his head and rolling his eyes. Anyone looking at Mamoru can see him running his hand irritably through his hair, then gesturing and saying something-or-other. The blond guy nods--<br /><br />--a moment later, Mamoru's coming back with two black coffees, one of which he sets down in front of Kazuo. He ''happens'' to come back at the very end of the last thing Makio says, and he laughs. "You'd think that, going to Infinity-- that's where you go, right? I mean maybe not, but your face is familiar. Either way, that ''school'', it's like it autogenerates rumors because so many of the students are in competition for who's the prettiest, or something."

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"I resign from any competition for who is the prettiest.. I've got a girlfriend who is biased for me, and that's more than enough." Naru notes as she holds up her hands, one still holding a dark grey marker in a gesture of surrender before going back to working on her drawing.<br /><br />She ahs a moment, as if something has just occured to her and Naru reaches for her schoolbag to emerge with a different sketchbook and flips to the first page before sliding it over to Mamoru. Pen and ink, black and white, a sketch of him leaning against a giant cat, the background is implied more than drawn.<br /><br />"Usagi is a social force of nature, if you've met her, you'd remember." Naru is confident on that point, that's for certain and there's a certain measure of relief at the fact that neither of Makio's employers seem to be white haired, nor named Taka. Or either or, really.

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"It wouldn't be surprising," Kazuo says to Makio, rather seriously. "I suspect they were considering charging her parents rent for a while."<br /><br />He tilts his head to Mamoru in greeting and presumably in thanks, and settles both hands around the coffee without picking it up. There is no comment about the prettiest. None of the candidates for prettiest in his opinion attend Infinity at present, and therefore it is not fair. He does, however, regard Naru's sketch with considerable interest. Seen in the wild!

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>At SOME point Lacrima's Eclipse phone rang. (You can tell it's the Eclipse phone because Lacrima has it's ring-tone set to Toccata.) and she has to go answer that in private which lends her to be outside in the alley talking about something 'work related'. Really she's been trying to dig into Seth but she keeps getting red tape blocked repeatedly and eventually it's gonna put up flags so she tells the other person to stop for now and she sighs and waltzes back into the Crown and back upstairs again and...<br /><br />"Ah." she says. "Hello." she says as she sits back down to... "Hmmgh." she says. Her burgers and milkshakes are cold now. Well. Of course the milkshakes are cold but now it's more like ice cream soup. She takes a deep cleansing breath and picks up the tray. Disposes of the items. And orders a new one.<br /><br />She walks back with two more fresh milkshakes that are not 'Ice Cream Soup' and waits for new burgers to be made.<br /><br />"My apologies. That was an important call about something I'm looking into." she says.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu nods in reply. "I'm one of Infinty high's swim team members," he replies in reguards to Mamo's statement about him going to infinity. The voice in the back of his head seems to cause pause for a moment, but he seems to take note. Apparently one CAN keep him from calling them wierd nicknames. "Chiba," he corrects himself, "...but then my face might look different when I'm not at work. I mean, the only time you saw me I was actually trying to look professional." He kids slightly, not honestly thinking his hair makes THAT much of a difference. "But yeah, I'm one of the few that doesn't care about being pretty, but being the kid of a rich person causes rumors either way..."<br /><br />"And I think you're pretty Naru," he states, "I mean, not in some stereotype, alpha male, false gesturing kind of way." "If I'm right she's not just energetic, but excitable and prone to squeeing or squealing about things, right," he asks Naru in a way that speaks more of curiousity and less of the insult one might assume with the word 'squealing' attached, "Annd it was asked if she was at the Sailor V cabinet cause that's /almost/ all she ever plays?"<br /><br />"Welcome back," is offered to Lacrima, with a usual smile and wave.

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba| (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Good, Kunzite has coffee to hold now and all's right with the world because when Mamoru's finished with his own, he can steal Kunzite's. ...Kunzite who has stopped talking, and for some reason Mamoru's a little red in the face.<br /><br />The college hipster's eyes widen at Naru's sketch of him and the caracal, and he looks ''absolutely delighted'' and starts scrambling for his phone. "Can I take a picture of that? And print it out? I mean unless you're selling it in which case can I buy it?" he asks, getting the camera app up and holding his phone like 'imma take a picture' but not actually taking one yet.<br /><br />He ''does'' nod at Makio's assertion. "Thought so. I was in track, myself, and Kendo, but I stopped in my second year. Wait, I already told you I went there, nevermind."<br /><br />He does not answer the questions about Usagi because Makio was asking Naru, and because he doesn't want to wax poetic about the cute face Usagi makes when she's really really into playing a videogame, ''and he will''. Also, he asked Naru. He's safe.<br /><br />Except there's Lacrima! "Oh, dammit, if I knew you were here I'd've brought your thing for you," he says, chagrined.

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"I'm fairly plain, and I'm really very much alright with that." Naru replies almost absently on the notion of her being pretty or not. She smiles at the accurate descriptors of Usagi and nods with each one. "That would be Usagi, yes. And more blonde hair than is sane, and that doesn't tangle like stupid, because there is no justice in the universe in that regard."<br /><br />Naru glances to Mamoru and his scramble. "I'm keeping all the inktober ones together for now.. other than the one I had to tear out of my homework and tape in, so picture yes.. but I'm not selling it, no. If I decide to break them up, I'll be sure to give it to you. I'm pleased with how it turned out, even if it was a quick one off so that I didn't miss the first."<br /><br />Naru waves to Lacrima as she returns from her phone call. "Welcome back."

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima looks to Mamoru. "I intend to visit tomorrow anyways to drop off the book binder I made." she says. She means, of the dances. "So you can give it to me then." she says a little. She then looks between Kunzite and Mamoru before her eyes back to Makio with a soft nod and then back to Naru with another soft nod.<br /><br />She smooths out her 'way too elegant for the Crown' dress and sighs a bit.<br /><br />"So what'd you guys talk about when I left?" she asks. "Anything at all?" she asks. "Besides. Games. I guess." she eyes the stairs down to the arcade floor.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The dark blue haired boy's single, visable eye is basically darting between people now. He nods at Naru's explanation of Usagi's ungodly hair. "Yeah, that stuff can't possibly have anything to do with mother nature. I can't even get my hair THIS long before it's a disaster. She must spend hours on that." He doesn't push on the Naru being pretty thing. He just wanted to make an honest assessment and doesn't want to come off like some creep who's trying to hit on her or anything.<br /><br />"Sounds like you talk to a lot of people Chiba, it's cool," he replies to Mamo remembering he'd already told him about track. "And I think we mostly talked about the Mew Mew Cafe and Usagi..."

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba| (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Mamoru gives Naru a thumbs-up and takes the picture, then squints at her. "Avoid avoid avoid. I'm fairly certain I'm allowed to think you're pretty, but whatever, not my problem, definitely Kyou's problem." Then he beams. "Also, thank you! Also, it ''does'' tangle like stupid. And it also gets caught in things. And it also clogs the shower drain."<br /><br />He shakes his head at Makio. "Yeah, HOURS. It's totally natural. It's just-- she made a deal with her mom when she was little. She didn't have to get her hair cut as long as she took care of it. Kind of like a pet, I guess. But my god the brushing, ''all the brushing'', and ''so much hair product'', between her and my housemates I'm pretty sure we're actually legit supporting the hair product industry..."<br /><br />Lacrima gets a bright look, then. "Yesssss. Hey, can I put them online? If yes, how do you want me to credit you with the compilation?"

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kazuo nodded his re-greeting to Lacrima when she returned, but ... the tray. He actually looked disturbed when she picked up the remains of her food, then slightly alarmed when she disposed of it, and since then he's been carefully quiet, not speaking to anyone else. Frowning just a little at his untouched coffee.<br /><br />Maybe it was Mamoru's enthusiasm over the picture for some reason. (Like the caracal.) Maybe it was Naru's protests over being plain. Who knows?

:'''{{#var:51|Akane Hino| (51)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Who's that young lady with the orange-blonde hair and a big smile on her face coming in? Could it be Akane Hino? The volleyball girl who is always known for her positive attitude?<br /><br />It IS Akane Hino!<br /><br />Spreading her joy and cheer as she enters, Akane waves with a big smile on her face as usual. She's not sure if there's anyone she recognizes just yet, but that doesn't stop her from being friendly and happy. Besides, that grin on her face is going to get some attention most likely!

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima raises a brow. "You can do with them what you wish. Put them online. Sell them. They're yours, technically." she says. "I have them in paper format, but. I'm assuming you have a computer scanner somewhere in that mansion of a penhouse or could obtain one within a day if you don't easily enough." she says.<br /><br />"My hair is magically maintained. It just is. I don't worry about it." she says coyly. "Probably part of the being horrible immortal undead thing." she asides.<br /><br />She purses her lips and looks between Makio and Naru. "I have a ... hard time. Determining attraction so my apologies. It seems very pointed for me. I think people have to hit the right notes with me." she asides.<br /><br />"I'm sure everyone is good looking enough." she offers. She eyes the red head coming in for just a moment.<br /><br />If she notices Kunzite's exasperation and/or disgust at her trashing the food she hasn't said anything. She cares more about comfort right now and soupy milkshakes and cold burgers are not comfort to her right now.

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"It totally tangles, it just doens't tangle like /stupid/." Naru grins to Mamoru as she reaches over to reclaim her sketchbook. "It should tangle like /stupid/, and yeah.. shower drain is so very a thing. I lived at her place enough when I was little, it's a thing."<br /><br />Naru drops both sketchbooks into her bag, and markers too. "I should get home and get myself together before Kukai wipes the pavement with me tomorrow." She grins, clearly unconcerned with the reality of this challenge and she adds for Mamoru's benefit. "We're having a race tomorrow, and it was pure bravado that prompted the trash talk. Although he's a sprints guy, and I got to pick the distance.. so we'll see how his sprints do after 19km. I might wish I was still chipped like a stray cat by that point myself, however."<br /><br />Naru slides out of the booth. "Good seeing you again Makio.. seriously.. text me. I'm good with questions, or know people who are. Take care Lacrima, attraction is a weird beast.. for everyone, I think. Talk to you later."<br /><br />Naru clearly has left a spot at the table for Akane, who gets a polite nod and smile of greeting as Naru passes, on her way out of the Crown.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu waves after Naru. "Good seeing you again too Naru," he calls. And as he notices Akane coming in she gets a wave as well. Not that he recognises her. His attention would go back to Mamoru. "...huh, well...I'm glad I don't need to spend hours on my hair." He ruffles his already messy locks on that note.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kazuo's responce to Lacrima throwing away her food is noticed... though Makio's not likely to make any reaction to as much. "So...um...Kazuo, you don't seem like you'd be a common face here. You play video games?"

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba| (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Mamoru notices the entering redhead in passing-- there may or may not be the beginnings of a flinch, since she's not a redhead he's used to seeing, but it's gone in a moment; this one looks vaguely familiar, but in that 'saw her rebuff a dance from Takashi at a school dance two years ago' way.<br /><br />So his gaze turns back to Lacrima, even as his hand briefly moves to brush against Kazuo's for a second. "They're not mine, you're the one who did the work. If you're releasing them, I'm definitely putting them online for free, because that's the whole point, isn't it? Getting it so people can learn them and enjoy them and remember them..."<br /><br />He ''blinks'' at Naru. "You'll have to tell me later who chipped you, that sounds both absurd and like a story and a half." The prince gives her a jaunty salute. "Good luck!"<br /><br />Then Makio's looking at him again and making a hair comment but actually ''asking'' Kunzite what's apparently-- to Mamoru-- a ''hilarious'' question. He nearly inhales the coffee he's finishing off. "--ohmygod ''lol''--"

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Frowning at his coffee does not make Kazuo that likely to notice a wave or a grin, alas. Nor is he actually chastising or rebuffing Lacrima; maybe he's just moody, or maybe conversation while she was out covered something unpleasant. Maybe a lot of things.<br /><br />He does stir enough to add, "Good luck tomorrow, Naru," as she exits. Which means he has no excuse ''not'' to answer Makio's question. His eyebrows twitch upward just a touch as he resumes a more normal lack of expression. "Badly," he replies. "Very badly. But someone I know is irrationally fond of one here, so occasionally I stop by for it. More often I come by to provide Motoki with the reports from my spying on Mamoru for him." This probably doesn't help with the coffee inhalation.

:'''{{#var:51|Akane Hino| (51)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Taking a seat at the open spot, Akane smiles at those who are sitting there. "Hello everybody!" She says, her cheerful attitude spreading like sunlight on a sunny day. "Oh, you might not know me. I'm Akane Hino, pleasure to meet all of you!" She giggles a little at this.

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima mmphs. She doesn't see it that way. But she's not gonna argue on a point. "Then I'm releasing them." she says. "Do whatever you want with them." she says. "If you attribute them. Use the name 'La Crima'.. or just. 'Teardrop'.... because quite frankly, I dunno what kind of attention using the name 'Norie Okana' right now would bring your way." she says quietly.<br /><br />She shrugs a bit. Then to Makio. "Of course he plays video games. Can't you just see the blatant enthusiasm on his face for them." she says.<br /><br />This is said perfectly with a straight face.<br /><br />She eyes Akane. She blinks a bit and looks around. Does she know this girl? "Hello." she says. "Hino-san." she offers.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu raises a brow, but it's quick to return to normal hieght given how Mamoru's right here in ear shot. A known thing. Or it's an exageration. He's pretty sure it's the first from what little he's seen. "Eh, being good or not doesn't matter," he states, "It's a hobby thing...then again I guess SOME people do it more seriously."<br /><br />In responce to Lacrima, he frowns slightly, deciding it might be sarcasm. "Come on, I can't just decide stuff about people THAT easily. I mean, you know at least a little about him, sure, but I've only seen him in passing once before..."<br /><br />That's quickly pushed aside as he tries to greet Akane though. "Hi there Akane, I'm Makio Ryu." This guy's rude, but at least he's nice rude in a nice way? ...eh, some people might perfer tsunderes.

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba| (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Uh, hi-- Mamoru Chiba," says the black-haired college student politely after finishing coughing from coffee inhalation.<br /><br />He's mostly eyeing Kunzite, though the comment from Lacrima makes the corner of his mouth twitch upwards. "He ''knows'' he's still welcome to come over any time he wants. He just wasn't comfortable there before because it looked like a Conde Nast two-page spread, and he's super leery of coming over ''now'' because he knows what kind of shenanigans people get up to there and says he has enough of that nonsense dealing with explaining the lack of a power bill."<br /><br />Then he kicks Kunzite under the table, lightly, and tries to steal his coffee.

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Some people including all four of my housemates," Kazuo confirms to Makio, tone remaining dry. "One of them frequently and loudly declares me the opposite of fun." Except possibly for definitions of fun that involve baiting Mamoru juuuust a little.<br /><br />Somehow his coffee is thieved despite Kazuo still having ''both hands'' around it, which at least says he pays fairly for his baiting.<br /><br />When Akane seats herself, though ... Kazuo eyes her for just a moment, then nods politely alongside Mamoru's giving his name. Doesn't say anything, though. Lapses back into quiet and leans back in his seat, glancing occasionally over at Lacrima as if to check and make sure she's both all right and still there.<br /><br />(Literally true: the gem kunzite fades in the sun.)

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima blinks. "Ah..." she says. "Nono. I am just making some dry humor." she offers. "At my friends here." she motions to Kazuo and Mamoru. "I apologize. My emotional range is limited." she offers. "To basically. Neutral. Angry. Upset. and Worried and Depressed." she offers. "So I take what I'm capable of." she offers.<br /><br />She looks over to Mamoru as he tries to steal coffee before looking back to Makio. Who knows if the girl here is magically inclined. So she keeps it vague now.<br /><br />Then eyes back to Sunny. She says nothing. She doesn't know this girl. So she's quiet until she talks more. Or Maiko prys more out of her, obviously.

:'''{{#var:51|Akane Hino| (51)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Hello everybody," Akane says cheerfully, then she blushes. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I must've made a bit of an entrance." She grins nervously, sweatdropping visibly. "But I can't help it. It's just who I am!" Even Maiko's rudeness doesn't seem to bother this girl.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu ahs. "Oooh, it's like THAT," he replies, "Yeah...it's cool... Sorry, Lacrima, thought you were trying to say I was being a dumby." To Kazuo he offers his usual smile. "I can see how that might make things...different," he replies, "...since there's five of them maybe I can join some time and we do something in teams of 2 or 3? Or just do something else entirely."

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba| (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Mamoru nods with Lacrima's assessment, emphatically. "She's just giving him crap because it's funny. Like he's giving me crap because it's funny. And like I just acquired his coffee." 'Him' obviously being the remarkably laconic Kazuo. He shifts a little in his chair, sitting up a little more straight, and gives Akane a vague smile before blinking at Makio. "Oh sure, you should come over. We play Mario Kart a lot of nights, but we've been alternating with Super Smash Brothers lately."<br /><br />He looks at the other people around the table, and then he sighs and his gaze settles on Akane.<br /><br />"Are you a magical girl?" he asks completely bluntly.

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kazuo appears to be permitting Mamoru to do all the talking, at the moment. Possibly including for him. Possibly he is secretly pursuing a course of study in actually turning into part of the Crown's furniture.

:'''{{#var:51|Akane Hino| (51)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"What?" Akane looks genuinely shocked by the question. For a moment, there's nothing but a shocked stare on her face, then she scowls a little. "Just what kind of question is that? Of course I--" She pauses for a moment as she realizes what she's doing. Sweatdropping again, she looks around and scratches the back of her head. Then she smiles a little, albeit nervously. "W-well, some might consider me a magic girl, because of how I have a magical smile. Is that what you meant?"

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima places her palms to her face as Mamoru just /ASKS/ that. Of course his royal nerdiness would just ASK that. She takes a deep breath-- once again despite not needing to /breathe/ and just talks candidly because of course someone like this girl is a magical girl because she can practically feel that good mood sparking against her aura like it's something physical and tangible.<br /><br />"Makio. Yes it is like that. I am La Vampira, as I told you before. That's 'Female Vampire' in Spanish." she says. "I'm effectively a former human that is a mass of dark energy now and one of the side effects is 'positive emotions become suppressed'." she says. "No specific entity made me like this. I bought a cursed necklace and it did this to me. I was a mess for the better part of the first year I was like this. I still am a mess. But less so." she says.<br /><br />She sighs a bit over to Sunny. "You can just say yes or no. It's not like you're saying who you are that way." she says bluntly.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Mario Kart and Smash Brothers...I can get with that..." Makio states before--well if he was drinking anything he'd be spit taking right now. Are you a magical girl? Just...like that. Are you a magical girl?! He just starts laughing as his discolored shock of of hair shakes.<br /><br />Then Lacrima reminds him of the term she gave and he tilts his head. "So that's a thing too..." he murmurs, "Sorry, I didn't think it /litteraly/ meant what it sounded like. Should have known better. ...I wanna ask, but I'm pretty sure you don't wanna go into details about it right here and now..."

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba| (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Sipping calmly from Kazuo's coffee, Mamoru looks serene at everyone's reactions, then finally cocks his thumb at Lacrima. "What she said. You know. Do you punch monsters and throw beams of purifying light around? Because if you do, please don't throw any at Lacrima, they won't do any good and they'd probably hurt a lot, and it's really not worth the headache having her friends as enemies. I honestly couldn't think of another reason you might just sit down at a table full of strangers."

:'''{{#var:51|Akane Hino| (51)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>A mixed look of emotions appears on Akane's face. "Wh-what? What do you..." She looks down and sighs. "OK... OK..." She looks up again. She's clearly trying not to get upset. "Yes, I'm a magical girl! OK? Do you accept me now? I don't know what else to say!"

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Kazuo stll doesn't say anything. He does tilt his head a little and glance across at Akane. It's not till she says those last words that he adds, quieter-spoken than before, "I can confirm."<br /><br />Akane might or might not remember seeing him -- too-tall, straight white hair, same jeans and slightly disreputably-treated white shirt -- a couple of weeks ago at Unmei's. And, later, the likewise white-haired man in the cape who called up shadows, though ones that ''defended'' her and the others rather than attacking them.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu furrows a brow a little as Akane reacts that way. "I'd sit at a table of strangers too," he says, but...he imediately rubs at the back of his neck. He's a magical boy, so that doesn't HELP. "Well, umm, anyway, it's fine, it's ok, Akane."

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima says. "Well you can join in the discussion." she says softly. "About what you think. Or you can sit there flustered about all of this." she offers as she finishes her second milkshake. She eyes Makio. "You can ask questions. But I'll give you a rundown of the usual ones people tend to ask me." she clears he throat.<br /><br />"Most of the traditional vampire lore doesn't work against me. I walk in the sun just fine. Steaks through the heart just hurt a lot and make me upset because I technically don't have internal organs. Garlic tastes nasty but doesn't hurt or hinder me. Trust me, I /ate/ a whole clove once trying early on and it burned forever for a while." she says.<br /><br />"I don't drink blood. I eat energy. Yes. I do hunt people. No, it isn't permanent damage. No, I do not enjoy doing this." she says. "But the other option is 'starve myself. Loose myself to a frenzy of being a horrible shadow monster until I can return back to coherence from eating enough indiscriminately like your common youma.'" she offers.<br /><br />"Religious Iconography, if presented in earnest, does make me feel uncomfortable on some deep level- but it isn't nessacrily hurtful. I also do sleep in a coffin because it makes me feel comfortable when I rest. Like it feels 'right' to me. I can however, sleep anywhere." she sighs a bit.<br /><br />"I apologize if that's nothing you were going to ask me, but you will be surprised how many people will ask me those things first usually." she huffs and rolls her eyes. Though it doesn't seem pointed at Makio.

:'''{{#var:51|Akane Hino| (51)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Akane starts to calm down a little, taking a few deep breaths. Then she notices Kazuo and does a double-take. "Hey... you're... I know you!" She smiles a little. "I know you from someplace! I've seen you recently!"

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba| (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Mamoru shrugs a little and gives Akane another mild smile, then nods in acknowledgement of Kazuo's confirmation. There's a moment of amusement turned toward Makio, and then Akane notices a nineteen-foot-tall gorgeous guy with long silky white hair that she's seen before, just sitting there at the table with the rest of them, for the first time.<br /><br />"He's hard to miss," he says affably, then finishes off Kazuo's coffee. He stacks both empty cups in each other and gets up to take them to the counter. Before he heads that way, though, he nudges Kazuo in the shoulder with his elbow, lightly. "You feeling all right? We should probably get home."

:'''{{#var:109|Kazuo Takeba| (109)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Yes," Kazuo says to Akane, still in that quieter tone. "I helped you and the wolfgirl fight the fire-spitting wrath-monster." Some people get gorillas. Some people get ... well. He passes a hand down his face again, lingering a moment, then glances up again at Mamoru's elbow-nudge. Apparently the elbow-nudge gets him to unfold from his seat and thread his way out after Mamoru. Six and a half feet, close enough to nineteen. And looking somewhat more the half-bleached ghost than usual, which may explain why he's failing on the courtesies.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu says, "Well, I /was/ curious about the whole food thing, yeah. Not in a way where I suspected you or anything... BUT I wasn't going to ask about sunlight cause that one was obvious, annnnd I wouldn't have asked about weaknesses, cause that's just kinda mean and kinda pointless. Why would someone tell me thier weakness cause I just...asked them?" He smiles though, not seeming to take anything Lacrima said or did as bad. The seal guy's just trying to explain himself. "It's good you don't have a deadly alergy to garlic though. If I ever need to get food for you, for some reason, that's a good thing to know!" He blinks at Kazuo. Yeah, that's getting unhealthy looking... "Umm...you look like you could use.../something/ man.""

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba| (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Mamoru puts the cups in the place where they go, then lifts his hand in farewell to those still at the table. "See you tomorrow, Lac-chan; see you soon, Ryu-san; nice to meet you, Hino-san. They can tell you who we are."<br /><br />And then yeah, when ''Kazuo'' doesn't feel good? It is time to go home.<br /><br />Out the door, with another wave to Motoki.

:'''{{#var:51|Akane Hino| (51)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Nodding to Kazuo, Akane smiles. "Of course, that's how I remember you!" She grins a little before standing up and looking at her watch. "Oh my, I have to get going I'm afraid." She turns and waves. "So long everyone!"

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima looks to Makio. "I have a weakness to positive energy... purification." she says. "But that's not exactly a secret. That's pretty much /any/ dark energy creature's weakness." she says. "It's just how it works. It's why I yelled at that... idiot shrine maiden who shot off the purification barrier too close to me. I /felt/ that even if I wasn't in it's bounds and it /burned./" she says.<br /><br />"Purification feels absolutely awful for me. I hate it." she says.<br /><br />She looks to Mamoru and Kazuo and frowns. "Be well." she offers. She looks back to Makio. "Sorry you got dragged into that zoo situation." she says.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu waves after Mamoru. "Ah, see ya Chiba," he calls. That felt a little odd, but, eh, he's sure Mamo's got a handle on things. Then Akane suddenly takes off too. "Uhhh, see ya Akane..." <br /><br />He peers back toward Lacrima and, despite shoving his books back into his bag, doesn't look as if he plans to bolt off. "Guess it's a good thing I've just got ice things so far," he replies, "Makes working together easier...and naaaah, I wasn't dragged in. It's not dragging when you willingly run right at it."

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima sighs and rolls her eyes. "As for the eating thing." she says. She eyes Akane leaving and looks back. "I can eat. But it's a comfort thing. But of the things that have 'changed' for me since I was human, eating has not. Food still /tastes/ like it did when I was human and I can still /eat food/ so I do it, effectively, as much as I possibly can because it makes me feel better." she says.<br /><br />"Better being. Relative to me. As I am now this is close to. 'Not a mess' I get." she sighs.<br /><br />"Kazuo likes raining donuts on me when he wants me to feel better." she says a little coyly.<br /><br />She sighs. "Norie Okana. That's. My 'human' name." she says. "But 'Norie Okana' is currently missing because my brother learned about my condition and... well." she sighs a bit. "It's a mess."

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu winces at that bit of information. "...that sounds rough," he says, "And donuts huh? ...you didn't say which FLAVORS though." He grins and crosses his arms over the table. "You also didn't say cream filled or not..." Yeah, he's told someone's a vampire and all this is how he reacts. Well HEY, he DID see her help take care of Bongo, after all.

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima sighs. "I like Karou's chocolate donuts the best. The one from the van that usually hangs near the park that sells the donuts with the heart shaped holes." she says. "But donuts are donuts. I'm not too picky." she says. "It just goes into my body and dissolves into nothing in the end." she says. "My body might convert it into more dark energy mass, but that's not the same as sustaining myself with human energy." she says.<br /><br />"And I'm always burning dark energy anyways." she says with a sigh.<br /><br />"Anyways. I try to. Be friends...?" she asks. "But I'm going to give you this warning."<br /><br />"Someday we are going to fight. It is just business. I work for not nice people. But these not nice people where the first people to treat me as a being and not a monster and actually help me with my condition because they understand beings like me better than anyone." she says. "Maybe I'll be trying to steal energy. Maybe I'll be backing my friend and employer, Riventon-sama up while he's trying to obtain something before someone else like you does. Maybe I'll be teaching someone a lesson because they couldn't take a deal my employer made." she says.<br /><br />"But it isn't personal. The same also goes should you find me stalking and feeding on someone." she bluntly says. "I need to feed. You want to try to stop me. Fine. You've interrupted my lunch and I can be in another alley across town far away from you in a quick Dusk Step." she waves a hand.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu nods in understanding. "While I'm not sure about what all this business stuff might lead to in the future, you already said what you do doesn't cause lasting damage and keeps you from going crazy, right? It makes more sense to help you than stop you at that point. Otherwise you might do REAL, LASTING damage to people. I'd rather have someone hurt a little than a lot of people hurt a lot..."

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima nods. "That's the idea. I need to drain one person a night at present. That changes based on expenditure and how I feel mentally. It used to be five or even ten early on because I was a mess." she says. "I drain someone. It /hurts/ and it's /uncomfortable/." she says. "But then they fall unconscious and wake up tired. That's it." she says.<br /><br />"But it's possible for me to drain someone into a coma. I've DRAINED someone into a coma." she says. "If I take too much. And when I'm a starved animal- I don't /care/ because I have no sense of self." she says.<br /><br />"This form. I'm in right now. This is only the most 'human' form I can take without energy expenditure. Mundanes.." a pause. "That is. Normal. People. Humans. Non-magical people..." she says. "Don't notice the oddities unless they stare too long." she says. "Then I start making them uncomfortable. But that's it. But I also can't pass for Norie Okana like this." she sighs.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu nods in understanding. "Well...I /guess/ I can help a little if that's all it is," he says with a thoughtful hesitance. "That's probably too wierd an offer to make so early into actually talking to you, but...if it's really just a minor inconvience like /that/ and it keeps a lot WORSE from happening..."

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima shakes her head. "I won't accept." she says. "You're not the first to offfer." she looks down and frowns. "It's the reason why I don't like being touched." she says quietly. "Because I don't like draining and I drain through touch." she says. "And I don't drain the same person again and again antmore. People have /tastes/ to their energy and it's possible for me to become addicted if it becomes a regular act." she says.<br /><br />"The one I drained into a coma had been... feeding me. Insisting I wasn't a monster early on. She tasted like cinnamon buns. I can't actually /eat/ actual cinnamon buns anymore because they make me think of her and how her energy tasted." she says.<br /><br />"She... eventually woke back up. Months later. But she's okay now. I think." she says quietly.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu nods again. "Ok, ..huh I guess it makes /sense/ people would have different tasting blood like that," he murmurs thoughtfully, "With how we consume such a wide variety of things and some of it can enter our blood streams..." He shakes his head a little. "...you think? ...let me guess...too scared or too guilty to talk to her?"

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima shakes her head. "It's based on. Personality. I think. See. I say. I drain energy. Because it's easier than explaining I'm consuming people's identity because I don't have my own anymore and convert it into more of 'me'." she says.<br /><br />"Amu-chan tastes like a peppermint. Cool and Spicy. Kukai tastes like a Lemon-Lime Sports Drink." she says.<br /><br />"The only one I feed from regularly is Amu-chan. And I space that out to once a month now. She made herself too sick feeding me nightly. And I wasn't... in a right headspace to refuse." she says.<br /><br />"I don't trust many people." she says quietly. "Sorry. It's part of what I am." she says.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu says, "Yeah, it only makes sense. Most people'd probably freak out about someone being a vampire. ...I'm probably a little too surprized that I'm a magical boy to worry much about vampires. 'sides, I already know that, at the very least, you seem to mean well. It's not like you're some maniacal jerk that's out to destroy life itself.""

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima seems confused. "You can't rule the world if it's a smoulder mass of dark fire." she says curtly.<br /><br />"I should. Be going. I came to shove milkshakes into my being until I felt better. I do not. And Naru-chan has gone a while ago." she says.<br /><br />She begins to get up. A pause. "I may be visiting your cafe again soon. I enjoyed my visit last time." she says as she begins to leave , after waiting for last remarks. If any.

:'''{{#var:213|Makio Ryu| (213)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Makio Ryu says, "If you want I can do for you what I offered for Naru. Text me when you plan on coming and if I'm there I can take orders before you're actally THERE. That way the order's preped when you arrive? Either way though, you go and feel better."
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