52/Ice Cream Meeting

Ice Cream Meeting
Date of Scene:	08 June 2015
Location:	Mitakihara - Frozen Beach Ice Cream Shop
Synopsis:	What's a meeting without Ice Cream!? Runealy, Gao and Hinote discuss things.
Cast of Characters:	Runealy Waldia, Gaofele Doiru, Hinote Kagari

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Hinote Kagari has posed:
Last night was... something. First it turned into exploration. Then it turned into battle, and something about a Dark Kingdom, and then Hinote got to save a person AND speak to Matsuo. That was weird. He'd only known Matsuo a few days, and then he had to save him, too and it was weird talking to him and trying NOT to use his name.

Then some sort of blue haired... Sailor? It was all weird.

Regardless, Hinote has called everyone for Ice cream and to discuss things, because getting out of the store was lovely- and the store didn't have ice cream.

Hinote had picked out a booth near the back and was sitting patiently, waiting as he rested his hands on the table, tapping a finger idly. He seemed deep in thought and introspection.

In reality, he was looking at the ice cream menu.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Having had a day to calm down, Rune is... still rattled by what happened, but no longer actively and constantly freaking out. Convincing her to get out of the store for the evening, to go eat somewhere, was pretty easy. She accepted the invitation, and now she's here sliding in to the booth.

She takes a few seconds to talk, gaze wandering from friend to friend, alternating between the two many times, before finally settling on Hinote. "So... that happened. Everything was so fast and crazy, and I couldn't see half of what was going on from where I was. That... was /any/ of that normal for Tokyo, do you recognize anything about it?" Business before sweets, it seems.

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gao had spent a good chunk of the day helping to calm Rune down, and between that and time it seemed to help take the edge off, at least. Still, going for a walk and some food is a good idea.

He slides into one of the seats of the booth, letting Rune do the talking. While he's listening to Rune (and awaiting Hinote's response to her questions), his eyes glance around, taking in the decor. Oceans in the walls? Just another oddity of Tokyo, he figures...

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari decides on what he's getting and slides the menu over to Runealy. He smiles. "Nope. Can't say that's normal. Never saw anything like that before." he admits. "You guys even know what a Dark Kingdom is? I don't." he asides as he thinks a little bit. "When you decide on what you both want, lemme know. I'll get up and get it." he smiles.

He thinks for a bit. "It felt good to help those people though." he nods softly, which seems to be his take on the matter.

"But no, that's not... normal. For here. At least. I don't think so." he asides.

"I DO know I fought something at Infinity the other day with another, in the same area. I wonder if something's wrong there...." he asides.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"Huh... do you see something?" An aside question from Rune to Gao. She doesn't seem to be noticing the unusual decorations quite like he has.

Hinote's answers are worrying, and cause her tone to lower. "No, we have nothing like that back home. The closest thing would be the Abyss, where most of the demons are sealed. As far as we know, it's completely empty aside from the demons... nobody would be proud to be its ruler. I still can't get 'him' out of my head... talking about how her life was just his ruler's 'due', like some kind of awful tax... and he was so relaxed about it!"

She's verging on a rant about it, but Hinote's question on lighter topics jars her out of this. "Oh. Ahh... I have no idea what any of this is, so I'll go with whatever's good? And if I haven't said it earlier..."

A nod to Hinote, then Gaofele. "You said it. 'Felt good'... you both did something wonderful. I can't believe Tokyo can be so dangerous, but it is, and I'm glad you two are making it... well... less bad."

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
"Just noticing the odd patterns to the walls," Gao shrugs to Rune. A quick glance at Hinote shows that the other Knight doesn't seem to be concerned about the walls, suggesting that they're normal enough.

"Same here," he nods to Hinote. "I'm usually willing to give new foods a try; if you think I might like it, I'll go for it."

Rune's words bring a smile to his face. "A new world, with new sorts of demons... well, we /did/ plan on not letting any demonic influences spread," he agrees. "And that includes those who use demons as their tools."

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari frowns. "I didn't like that guy either. That... um. Mercury? She was called, seemed to know what was going on. I wish I could find her again and ask questions." he asides. "I'm sure we'll meet her again though, if she's out saving people, too." he smiles. He sighs and closes his eyes and leans back a bit.

"Huh? Oh yeah. It's like a beach and an ocean setup." he asides to Gao. "ANYWAYS, I'll be back." he says as he slips up and walks over to the counter.

He returns, soon after, with vanilla ice cream, shoved into silver bowls, drillzed with chocolate syrup, nuts, and a wafer cookie stuck up at an angle. Your typical hot fudge sundae. Everyone gets one. "Here you guys go. Watch out. It's cold." he asides.

He sits down and shoves his spoon into the ice cream.

"So, stuff like that, is similar to your guys demons?" he asks.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"Ohh..." Rune's eyes wander to the walls, and /then/ she notices the obvious thing Gaofele already had. "Oh! It's pretty different, even for Tokyo!" Or at least the parts of it she has seen. "Wonder how they did that, or who they got to do it. Looks good..." Then to Hinote, "Same here. I'm going to try to find her. We definitely need to know more!"

Any further remarks wait until he returns; Runealy stares at the produced food, surprised but genuinely curious... and she tries a spoon of it... and discovers Hinote is very, very right. "Ack!" If she hadn't been bright-eyed and alert before that sampling of ice cream, she certainly is now! "That... I think that would have actually tasted really good if I hadn't tried too much at once. ...Wow."

Giving her mouth a few moments to recover sounds like a good idea, so she goes with the new topic. "Kind of. I've only seen a few, you understand. And never actually fought one. But most of them acted a little like that. Hurting people and thinking it was so great, the only difference is they were really... 'honest' about it. No dressing it up by talking about someone's life being their 'due'," she uses the strange man's words from last night. The ones I saw would just go for what they wanted, straight out. I'm told that's not normal, though, that most of them are smarter than that..."

A possibility occurs to her. She looks aside to Gao, "Have you seen any like that?"

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gao, taking note of Rune's reaction to a large spoonful of ice cream, takes a smaller spoonful of his sundae. "That /is/ pretty good!" he agrees, savoring the taste before taking another bite.

After a few moments of contemplation, he shakes his head at Rune's question. "The few demons that ever showed up in the Barrier Forest were small and, frankly, stupid," he comments. "Vicious just for the sake of being vicious, and fairly easy to outwit. Not very easy to take out, even for their lack of size, but nothing that an alert squad couldn't handle."

Admittedly, even then those fights were intense, but tactics and teamwork were usually enough to minimize injuries. And speaking of those... "We've done alright against demons and the like so far, but I'll be the first to admit that it feels more like a triumph of enthusiasm instead of skill," he points out. "We do pretty well together, but we're not fighting like a /team/ yet."

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari can't help but giggle at Runealy. "Ice Cream is cold. But it's sweet and delicious." he says as he takes a spoonful into his mouth. "Smaller spoonfuls." he asides. "Else you'll get an ice cream headache!" he asides. He thinks on this for a bit. And frowns. "I still don't like any of these things. I mean. Demons. Regardless of what it is they do." he says as he taps his spoon against the table a bit in thought.

"Yeah. I mean. I'm just trying to get better at this whole thing. It's new to me. Some sort of practice, together, could help a lot..." he asides. "This way, we can work better together!" he smiles.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"Y... yeah. Smaller." Much smaller. Rune is far more cautious with the next spoon-dip, and this time she doesn't wind up surprising herself. "Wow, that is pretty good. Is this the only place in Tokyo with it? I've never even heard of it until you brought us here, Hinote..." She's taking his laugh in decent humor; she /did/ botch that pretty blatantly, despite his earlier warning.

Then to Gaofele, "That sounds about right... though even that must have been pretty dangerous?" Rune is at least passingly familiar with the duties of those protecting the cleverly misnamed forest. Taking on even the most minor of demons, the most 'inconsequential' of them without magic seems unfathomable to her.

Then she blinks several times as something else Gaofele said registers in her mind. "Like a team? What do you mean?" And to Hinote, "You're not supposed to like them. Whether they're smart or stupid, 'weak'," a relative thing in the case of a monster, "or powerful, they're all awful. Nobody likes them. Fighting them is pretty new to us too, though. I've been /taught/ how to fight them, but never actually had to do it until we came here."

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
"There's a reason we had a squad of healers waiting whenever a demon was being hunted down," Gao nods. "Good armor and sturdy weapons are important, and tactics, teamwork, and training are vital. Even then, people will still get hurt before the demon is taken out." Part of the training included how to fall back as individuals while the overall group presses the attack; while it increases the number of people needed to fight a demon, it also lessens the injuries any single person takes, keeping them alive.

"The strongest way to use a weapon is in conjunction with the weapon of another," he explains. "If we can use our attacks to complement each other, we're likely to be more effective than just attacking at the same time."

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari frowns a bit. "Well yeah." he asides. "I just don't want to see people hurt by them like that. I think someone could had /died/ last night if we weren't there to stop that jerk." he asides. "Though.... I worry for Matsuo. He seemed to be getting caught in a lot of things." he says with a sigh. "He was.. the guy in the coat jacket there last night who was overwhelmed. I wanna have a talk with him. I know how he feels." he says with a sigh.

He looks to Gao. "Right! I mean.... Like. I have a sword. You have a bow. If I'm keeping the jerk busy, he might not be able to avoid your bows. Likewise, I can get closer if he's busy trying to dodge your arrows--- right?" he asks curiously.

"... right?" he asks, scratching the side of his head.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
All this talk of coordination is alien to Runealy. The Guardian Knights hadn't even existed for centuries, as the royal family no longer saw a need for them; the Queen of any given era would handle nearly all demon incursions on her own, and this was considered normal. The idea that the least of demons were being met by the forest's protectors with some kind of teamwork is met with "I had no idea... what you're talking about sounds almost like the guards drilling just outside the castle. And even that was mostly to keep up appearances, I was told. Aside from chasing off the occasional bandit or other little problem, we've barely even needed those. Still, what you're talking about sounds like a more serious take on that?"

Rune stops mid-spoonful as Hinote talks. His words have some sobering weight to them. "It was really that bad, huh? Sounds like more than just one 'someone' could have... well." She's not quite as interested in eating, suddenly. The spoon lowers back to its bowl. "I guess what you're talking about sounds right, though. It's just... I've never had to think of anything like that."

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
"Exactly!" Gao beams to Hinote. "Pin them down and strike, or force them away from a location -- or towards another, even!" Magic might complicate things by providing additional options, but the basic concepts remain the same.

"The same concept, yes," he nods to Rune. "Drills are good for making skills reflexive, both individually and as a group. Knowing both what you're doing and what your allies will be doing means that you can focus more on the rest of the battle, allowing you to take advantage of the situation."

He takes another bite or two of his sundae -- it'd be a pity to let such tastiness go to waste.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari hrms. "Drills?" he asks. "Maybe we should do that then... in the store, or behind it, even." he asides. "It'd be good team building, at least." he smiles. "Even if nothing comes from it. I mean. I don't...really even know what I can do, let alone you guys." he admits.

He sighs and takes another bite of Ice Cream.

"I just hope I'm ready when. well...." he asides, alluding to 'become bandits'. "I'm not wanting to let you both down..." he admits sheepishly.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"I know..." Rune acknowledges Gao's summary of why this is important. She's not protesting it. "She told me the same sort of things, but it was always from the perspective of doing it alone. Still, I guess we should start doing this, all of us," she nods over to Hinote, agreeing with his points.

When the newest Knight voices uncertainty, she leans over the table slightly... not far, just enough to be getting a little closer to him. "Hey. Hey. This is new to us too, and if you weren't able to handle it... you wouldn't be here. The Oath would have rejected you. I probably wouldn't have been there to hold the ceremony with you, anyway, if you weren't up to this. You've made the huge leap of believing in... well, a promise. That there are people out there really worth helping, and you just have to take my word for it until you'll actually get to meet them. You felt that strongly about it! You'll do..."

Her voice trails off. Do you tell someone they'll do 'fine' at something regretable and awful? ...That just doesn't sound right. "...You'll do what you have to, in order to live, help others live, and... still live with yourself afterward."

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gao nods understandingly to Hinote. "Most of what I know is from trying things out," he admits. "Working with what you /do/ know is a good start; once we learn new things, we can practice new things."

He reaches over and gives Rune's hand an encouraging squeeze. Living and helping others to live is... well, 'easy' isn't the right term. Not as challenging as living with themselves afterwards, certainly.

"We'll get through this," he says, looking at Rune but speaking to include Hinote. "Together."

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari smiles at the reassurance. "I guess you're right." he says. "I wouldn't be here unless I could handle it! But even if I wasn't, I'd still wanna help." he asides. He shoves another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth, his bowl's diminishing. He takes a rest from eating for a bit.

"So yeah, let's learn to work better together. Like... last night... I don't think anyone was watching your back last night except yourself, Rune." he sighs. "And then that thing attacked you. But I had to worry about the other two people being attacked." he sighs and blows his bangs up a bit.

"Right!" he says to Gao with a smile. "We can do this. We have to." he nods, he's well aware of what's at stake now, afterall!

Runealy Waldia has posed:
The hand helps, as it usually has. Rune settles down from bordering on an outburst, nodding over to Gaofele. "Right. We'll work on it. We'll figure this out." Then to Hinote's concerns, "I wasn't looking /that/ closely, but I think I saw both of you try? And if we're going to get into who was watching who's back, I just ran off alone to get to her. I'd still do it today if it came up again, but... I'm not about to say a single word against either of you for what /I/ did. I did my thing, you did what you could around that, and... it went okay. So..."

"Listen," Rune suddenly tries to change tones. "This is kind of my fault we got onto this to begin with, but... we can talk about this back at the store. For now..." She picks up a spoon again and resumes eating. "This. Hinote brought us out here for this, and it's starting to... melt? A little? Don't want to waste it. He likes it, I like it, you like it," a nod to Gao, "So let's just like this thing and we'll deal with other things once we're out the door."

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gao nods and smiles. It might be a good idea to think upon what happened during the fight, but /dwelling/ upon it doesn't do anyone any good.

Instead, he takes another bite of the sundae. It does drip a bit, but he manages to catch the drips in the bowl before he gets the spoon to his mouth. "What /is/ the name of this, anyway?" he asks Hinote between bites.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari thinks this is a good method of reasoning. Ice Cream now, serious talk later. "Alright then." he says with a smile as he continues to finish his ice cream. Ice cream, by Royal Decree!? Hinote will take that.

"It's called an Ice Cream Sundae." he asides. "Vanilla Ice Cream, layered in Chocolate sauce, and whipped cream." he asides. "And yeah, it'll melt and become liquid if it warms up. So you gotta eat it quicker than this." he asides.