1292/You're Kitten Me!

You're Kitten Me!
Date of Scene:	30 March 2016
Location:	Mitakihara - Downtown
Synopsis:	Yoru meets up with Mikoto. Over pizza they make plans for trying to get in to see Ikuto at the next concert.
Cast of Characters:	Ikuto Tsukiyomi, Mikoto Nakajima

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Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
"IKUTOOOOOO!"

Yoru doesn't worry about anyone hearing him that shouldn't. None of these normal people can see or hear him anyway. Besides, there isn't much he won't do to find Ikuto. Hence why he's out so late, flying around the city and calling for him. Yoru's keeping to the roofs, just in case. He doesn't want a car to hit him accidentally, or for someone to accidentally hit him.

However, he soon sees something that makes him stop and swoop down to the ground-- a group of alley cats. They're having a bit of a disagreement over a bit of fast food someone had discarded. He swoops down and calls out, "HEY!" The cats instantly stop and look at him, though their ears are still back. "No, I'm not gonna take your food-nya," he states. "Have you seen a human that looks like me? Bigger, but with no ears or tail, and has normal hands and feet-nya? Plays a violin?"

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto, meanwhile, is getting away from campus and her other projects for a bit, out doing a bit of shopping. She's had a long day, trying to reconcile Midchildan technology with her vague memories of Belkan equivalents, and it's been giving her a headache.

So she's gone for a walk to clear her mind, seeking out a little-used park to get some privacy.

But before she gets to the park, there's a loud grumbling noise.

From her tummy.

"Mou... should've had some lunch... maybe even breakfast..." She sighs and leans against a building. The smell of grease from the fast-food place nearly turns her stomach. She turns her head, looking around for something more tolerable to her palate.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
The cats chirp and shift around. Whatever this means it must not be what Yoru wanted to hear, because his ears droop, and he slumps. "Well... thanks. Keep an eye out, OK? Contact me through the usual channels if you see him!" With that, he leaves the alley.

He's visibly upset, his ears drooping and his tail hanging limply. He passes right by Mikoto and doesn't even notice... for a moment. Then he pauses, his ears perking and his tail raising. Quickly he darts back over to her.

"MIKOTO!" he declares, making for the faceglomp. Mind, he's aiming for the SIDE of her face, not the front. Still it's likely to be surprising, unless she caught sight of him.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Under normal circumstances, a surprise projectile aimed at Mikoto's face at high speed would have the extreme displeasure of encountering Carnwennan's autodefense.

Yoru, however, is a) listed as a friendly in the Device's database, b) not moving all that fast, and c) soft, fuzzy, and cute.

The result is a cat-chara plastered to the face of a fashionably-dressed teen. Who is glad she's leaning against a wall already, because otherwise she would probably have fallen over from the impact and the surprise.

"Y - Yoru?" she asks, reaching up to pluck him off of her face. "Is that you? Really?"

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
That is definitely Yoru! His tail swishes happily, and he hugs Mikoto. In fact, he just sort of transfers to hugging her hand when she peels him off her face. Yoru cans be bracelet, yes.

But when she speaks up, he nods! "Yeah! I'm glad t'see a familiar face-nya! I stayed with Amu 'till yesterday-- d'you know where Ikuto is-nya? I been lookin' everywhere for 'im!"

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto seems quite content to have a snuggly furry little bracelet. Or not so little, actually, Yoru isn't exactly tiny.

The thought of Ikuto, however, leaves her letting out a soft sigh. "He's... you know why he left you with Amu, right? He went to try to do something about the bad guys, and... I think we'd better talk about this somewhere private. And involving food."

She casts her gaze around, and a pizzeria catches her eye, so she heads over there. A medium pie with plenty of meat on it ought to be enough to feed both girl and chara, she judges.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Yoru releases Mikoto's wrist when she mentions needing to talk to him privately. "It's okay, nobody can hear you talking to me-nya." But then she mentions food. And Yoru's stomach growls. His ears droop a little. "Oops... heh, looks like you're not the only one who needs food-nya..." So he follows her to the pizza place.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto nods. "Good to know," she mutters, and settles in to wait for the pizza to arrive. She's also ordered a soda for herself, which she takes a sip from.

"So," she begins. "How much did Ikuto tell you about what he was planning?" Better to find out what Yoru already knows. And maybe Ikuto told him more than he did her.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
If Mikoto's all right with it, Yoru may actually take a few sips of the soda too. Mind you he won't just stick his face in there and start lapping. He'll use a straw. Which, if he does, is going to result in a rather hilarious-- and possibly rather cute-- earwiggling on his part!

As for the question? He tilts his head, then scratches his chin, thinking. "He said he was gonna put a stop to it for all-nya. But he didn't get to tell me much more. Amu and her Charas grabbed me and took me with them. That was a while back, I haven't seen Ikuto since-nya."

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
A second straw is easy enough to procure, and the restaurant gives free refills on sodas, so sharing isn't a problem. For a moment, Mikoto's imagination supplies the image of sharing a classic 50's milkshake with Ikuto, and she blushes just a little.

The earwiggling is definitely cute, though.

"Right, that matches with the message he left for me. I saw him a few days ago... he was playing a concert, with Utau. But he was..."

She trails off for a long moment, finding it hard to actually talk about it. "He wasn't in there. He was ust ... on autopilot. Like he didn't care about what he was doing."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Yoru quiets as Mikoto confirms what Ikuto had said. "I bet he was tryin' to convince 'em I was gone permanently," he guesses. "Since he needed me to gather X-Eggs, if he didn't have me anymore, he couldn't anymore-nya."

The account of Ikuto at the performance gets a confused look. But there's an air of... well, disbelief. Yoru doesn't want to believe it. "...He was gathering X-Eggs with Utau?" he inquires.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto nods. "I think so, as well," she murmurs.

"I think so. There were ... a lot of eggs gathered, at that concert. We recovered some, but... I think they still got away with a lot."

Then she has to pause, as the pizza arrives, all hot bread and gooey cheese and spicy meat. She lifts a slice, cradling it in both hands, and takes a big bite.

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
The arrival of the pizza draws Yoru's attention! He pulls a slice free from the pie and takes a big bite of his own! Bread-side first, notably. His big bite manages to be about the same size as Mikoto's, even though his mouth should, by rights, be smaller.

However, something soon occurs to him. "...Wait," he begins, his mouth full. "How was he pulling out X-Egg without me-nya? Did he have another Chara?"

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto shakes her head as she finishes her first bite. "No," she answers. "It was the violin, I think. It pretty much glowed with dark energy."

She takes a sip of soda, then continues. "Utau seemed to be okay. I've met her a couple of times since then, and she has her chara, she's fine... but Ikuto..."

She pauses again. "It was like watching a robot play the instrument. A machine. Like there was nothing else in his head, no pleasure, no passion, no joy...."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Yoru freezes when Mikoto mentions the violin. "...That was his dad's... The last thing Ikuto has of his father-nya..." he says quietly. He claws the table a little. How could they do that to something Ikuto held so precious?! "...Ikuto's gonna be mad if it's ruined..."

Mikoto mentions Ikuto's sister, and he looks sad suddenly. "Utau-chan..." He lets the silence linger a while longer. "Does she know what's going on?" And then Yoru shakes his head when Mikoto mentions Ikuto's condition. "...That can't be him," he decides. "I dunno what they did to him, but that's not him-nya."

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
"Then they've got to have some sort of control on him," Mikoto concludes, "that would explain the dull expression, why he doesn't seem to react to Utau..."

She hrms softly, eating another bite of pizza, and reaches over to absently scritch behind Yoru's ear.

"You know, I started the day wanting to just blow their headquarters sky-high. I'm getting close to 'nuke them from orbit, it's the only way to be sure' here."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
"The violin, probably," Yoru replies, with a nod. "It's somethin' Ikuto has a really close connection to, somethin' he'd keep close to 'im at all times-nya. Makes sense they'd use that to do... whatever they're doing."

Oh hey, scritches! Yoru leans into the scritches, purring happily. He does miss Ikuto's scritches, but ultimately scritches are scritches, and he likes scritches. Besides, he also likes Mikoto! A Chara is a part of the soul that created them, after all. And Ikuto likes Mikoto, so Yoru does too!

As for nuking Easter from orbit? "Nah. Ikuto's probably there, and Utau too-nya. It'd be too dangerous."

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto continues scritching Yoru as she contemplates it. "I know, I know," she consoles him. She has no real plans to 'nuke' anything, at the moment.

"Next concert, I'm going to try to get backstage, see if I can talk to him. Think you can cause a disrtaction while I do?"

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Yoru seems mollified when Mikoto assures him she has no real intentions of actually nuking anything, and noms on the pizza, still leaning into the scritches. Pizza and scritches, could it get any better?

('...Well, yeah,') he tells himself immediately. ('Ikuto could be here.')

The Chara looks up from pizza and scritches when Mikoto asks about a distraction. "Oh sure!" he assures her. "I can probably get back behind some of the equipment and break it so they have to stall to fix it-nya. But I gotta be careful not to break it TOO much. If I do, they might just cancel."

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
A brief nod answers Yoru's suggestion, while Mikoto continues eating.

Eventually, she nods again. "That sounds like a plan," she agrees. "As soon as we get the schedule for the next one, then..."

She stretches out briefly. "It's damn good to see you again, neko-chan."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
"They'll announce it soon, I'm sure," Yoru replies. "And I'll be watching out for any advertisements or fliers. An' if they don't, and just try to spring it, I got cats keepin' watch all over the city-nya. If any of 'em see him, they'll tell me." He seems pretty assured of that.

And then he gives a quiet little 'hehe' at Mikoto's feelings on seeing him again. "I'm glad to see you again too-nya. An' whatever's goin' on with Ikuto, we'll fix it! We'll find out what it is, and we'll get him outta there-nya!"

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto nods and reaches out to the little Chara, pulling him close. "That we wil," she assures him. "ha we will."

The plan set, she returns to eating, finishing off most of the pizza fairly quickly.