1542/Retail Therapy

Retail Therapy
Date of Scene:	02 June 2016
Location:	Uminari City - Shopping Strip
Synopsis:	Magical Girl shopping!
Cast of Characters:	Mikoto Nakajima, Haruna Kurosawa, Sora Hisakata, Jiaying Maki

---

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Midweek. Mid-semester. A somewhat too warm June late-afternoon. Classes are out for the day, and Mikoto's homework is already finished. (The joys of having an Intelligent Device: One can do it all in VR while sitting through boring but mandatory classes, and just transcribe it to paper later.)

    Her other projects are waiting on a delivery of parts, several of them custom-ordered from high-end electronics manufacturers. And a few bits of used industrial machinery. You really can find anything on eBay if you're patient enough, and willing to spend enough.

    Which leaves her with a definite need to do something. And there is a conspicuous lack of Witches, Familiars, Youma, Dark Generals, Jewel Seeds, or other unpleasantries turning up in her view.

    And that means one thing: Shopping Time! A chance to check out the latest inanities from Paris and New York, the occasional diamond in the rough from the thrift markets, and there were rumors of a dedicated cosplay shop opening up....

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa just got done some work. She didn't really work on the 'magical' side of WPS unless it was field work. She was literarly 'Working in head accounting'- but it was a good job, Paid VERY VERY WELL so--- So now she was exploring the shopping strip. She seemed thoughful. Not quite down or depressed, but introspective.

Corvus was perched on her shoulder- the seagull had a notebook in one wing and was writing down notes on the other. He also seemed introspective.

Infact, Haruna almost doesn't notice Mikoto, but she does, eventually- her eyes light up! Yay! Friends!

She jogs up and over to Mikoto with a beam. "Hello Mikoto-chan!~" she sings out almost.

She catches up and walks alongside. "Whatcha up to?" she asks.

"Everything going okay?" she wonders a bit, placing her hands behind her back a little and arcing forward a bit as she walks alongside still.

Sora Hisakata has posed:
Sora looks to be in a dark place. She's wearing all black, and her dour-looking face is glued firmly to the ground. Now black is not an uncommon theme for her, but normally she at least complements it with something white or red to make it a little less extreme.

Not that anyone here is likely to know that, being unfamiliar with the girl. Still, the looking down all sour might hint at there being something wrong with her emotionally, and the fact that she's distracted enough mentally to not hear the other girls talking when she's walking right towards them might also prove enlightening on the matter.

Jiaying Maki has posed:
Jiaying Maki is shopping! Having finally found the place and you know, not gotten distracted. A key factor in actually buying her new uniform and other things. Especially as hot as it was. She's tugging at her vest and wondering why she hadn't done this earlier, like when it was cooler last night, then... oh yeah. Still, she's got a few bags in hand already, the necessities first and otherwise she's just wandering the mall.

She's here alone mind, but she does kind of scan the crowd, looking for the telltale uniforms as much as anything else for hints of classmates. Maybe she can bothe-.. meet new people.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Mikoto pauses at the entrance to one of the clothing stores, eyeing a blouse on display. Royal blue with black trim, it is definitely her favorite color. And it looks quite nice.

    "Hmm," she muses. "Needs a little something... maybe a waistcoat and a skirt... yeah. Let's see what they've got."

    She's about to start into the store when she hears Haruna calling her name, and turns her head to look towards the voice.

"Hey, Haruna-chan. Good to see you out and about. And looking quite nice, too. Although that shirt and tie combination doesn't quite work... you need a little more contrast there, I think."

    She waves at the store she was about to head in. "Come on, let's have a look."

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa grins at Mikoto. "Sure! But...eh I like this. More importantly. Hannah thinks it's hot." she winks. "So. I think I like it as it is." she insists. "But--- hrmmmm...." her eyes trace over to Sora and that girl looks... down. Very very down.

Haruna purses her teeth together. "A moment, Mikoto, okay?" she asks.

Haruna remembers looking like that. Dressing in black. Her hairclip used to be black raven feathers. She was horribly antisocial. In fact. In three days from now-- last year, she'd had met Corvus for the first time.

She tip toes over to Sora and tries to get alongside her as she walks. "Hey..." says Haruna. Sora knows Haruna as Shiniko, but not as Sora. It's no surprise Haruna doesn't recognize Sora. "...is everything okay?" she asks the girl. "You look like you lost something important." she says silently. Corvus just nods his beak matter of factly in an affirmative manner.

Sora Hisakata has posed:
Sora recognizes Haruna, but it doesn't show. "Nothing is okay." She says quietly, looking up to see Mikoto as well, another familiar face she pretends not to recognize. There is however a face beyond it that she can acknowledge recognizing, and she raises her arm in a somewhat lethargic fashion. "Maki-san."

Jiaying Maki has posed:
Jiaying Maki happens to make her way into the store everyone else is in because of luck or because it's convenient. And you know, there was a cute top in there and she might as well spoil herself a touch. She'll.. chalk it up to comfort... clothing. Sure. Still, she reacts to the call out, which takes a moment because she doesn't know a Makichan, but she does totally know a Meifeng! Then it sort of clicks and she stands on her toes to get a better look around before waving to Sora in return and making her way over with a grin. Which soon turns into an embarassed smile as she says, "You're here too?" The name right on the tip of her tongue. She'll remember it in a moment. Hopefully. The others about are given some curious looks too, wondering if they're from school too.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Mikoto nods to Haruna. "Well, that's the uttermost important thing, then. Still!" She grins lightly, and then pauses as Haruna turns away to greet Sora.

    She doesn't interfere, at first. She doesn't recognize the girl, or the one she calls out to, so she lets Haruna take care of getting Sora talking.

    Instead, she turns her attention - and her warm, cheerful smile - on the other new person. The one Sora called out to. "Good afternoon, neighbor. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa head tilts and frowns. Yeah that's... that's a line she'd had used a year ago. Nothing is ever fine. Everything is bad. "...I know things can feel bad- and I know sometimes it feels like nothing will ever be okay ever again..." she says softly. "I was there for a long time myself." she says with the best smile she can muster. "My name's Haruna Kurosawa!" she says. "This is Corvus. My pet seagull." she says softly.

'Pet' to mundanes. It's easier to explain away that way. "Can I ask what's wrong?" she asks softly.

"It's okay... to keep it to yourself. But I know that if I bothered to talk anyone... I probably wouldn't had made a bunch of mistakes I did a year ago!" she says.

She looks over to Jiaying and gives a soft wave! "Oh, hey." she says. A pause. "How are you?" she asks to Jiaying. She peeks over at Mikoto a moment and looks back to Sora a moment.

Sora Hisakata has posed:
"Sora Hisakawa." The introduction is loud enough that it should help Jiaying with her name recollection too, but for the moment she's more focused on Haruna, looking at the girl like she's crazy. "There's only thing that can be good. If you want to cheer me up, and run into this ass of a boy called Kukai Souma, punch him in the face for me." That sounds vindictive.

Finally she addresses Jiaying, "Hey, Maki-san. Getting used to things yet?" She asks the transfer student, and glances towards Haruna, "This is Haruna Kurosawa. I just met her, the pest" pest, not pet, "on her shoulder's name is apparently Corvus. I don't know the name of the other girl."

Jiaying Maki has posed:
Jiaying Maki appreciates the hinteven f it's kind of embarassing and she feels a touch bad forgetting it. Still, she offers a polite nod and says, "Xie xie Hisakawa" Though soon though, her eyes follows Sora's gaze before looking surprised at hearing that name and that sentiment the second time in as many days. "What did he do?" She asks cautiously.

She nods quickly at the introduction though, offering a brief nod as well and says, "Nice to meet you as well Kurosawa" once more dropping the honorific, having decided mixing them up wasn't worth the effort yet. The name of the.. white bird is even ore confusing, but she adds, "Hi!" to the last girl too

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    Mikoto glances back briefly at Haruna, but the green girl seems to have things well in hand with Sora. So she lets her get on with it.

    Although punching Kukai in the face does have its temptations.

    She channels that into a welcoming smile for Jiaying. "Pleasure to meet you, neighbor. I'm Mikoto. Haruna-chan and I work together now and again." And if anyone follows that sort of thing, she used to be the star of Verone's kendo team. These days she's at Infinity.

    "Come to sort out a wardrobe issue, or just on the prowl for bargains?"

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa blinks and purses her lips. Kukai Souma. OF COURSE he has something to do with this. The big jerk. Doesn't he have enough fingers in enough stupid pies? He scowls. "You know what. I think that jerk is cruising for a bruising. That isn't the first issue I've heard..." or dealth with. "Involving that self righteous jerk!" she huffs loudly.

"But what'd he do, huh?" she asks.

She peeks back at Jiaying and crosses her arms matter of factly, does she notice the 'pest' instead of pet? If she did, she doesn't say anything.

Sora Hisakata has posed:
"He's a philandering asshole." Sora says with clear pain in her voice, and then looks away, towards a rack of (black) shirts, looking through it until she finds one with demonic looking skull on it, and holds it up in front of her chest as though to examine it.

"So why did you name the bloody sea rat after a much more noble kind of bird anyway?" Sora asks, her distaste for that kind of bird not remotely hidden. "I just came by to buy some new clothes, figured it'd cheer me up." By the look on her face, it's doing no such thing.

Jiaying Maki has posed:
Jiaying Maki crosses her arms at that comment and taps her foot on the ground, noting the same thing as yesterday mentally. She sighs, shrugs and says, "A swift kick maybe." Still though, she looks to Mikoto and changes the subject happily for now! "I'm here for a bit of both? I needed my uniform finally and I also needed.. wanted new clothes. It's hot here andI want more colors." She shrugs idly after.

Looking at the bird, she tilts her head just a touch and asks, "Irony maybe? It's a white bird, both are scavengers and loud?" She takes a moment to pick through things herself, actually liking the whole demonic looking shirt, holding a thumb and laughing, "I like it! Needs more though! More.. creepy?"

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
    The talk of Kukai's shenanigans elicits a brief shake of the head from Mikoto. She'd not known he'd gotten that bad.

    "Well, depending on which schol, we might be able to do something with the uniform. Better materials, better fit... you never know."

    She goes over one of the tables by the entrance, finding a blouse much like the one she'd noticed an in the right size, too!

    "Not a bad choice, all in all," is her opinion of Sora's. "So long as you don't go adding things like dog collars."

Haruna Kurosawa has posed:
Haruna Kurosawa is walking along and huhs. "Oh. I didn't name him. He came with the name." she insists. Corvus has his wings crossed and looks extra grumpy now. Ugh how he wishes it was safe to talk in front of mundanes. He has /words/ that Haruna will probably hear a lot of when they get out of earshot later.

But the Kukai situation illicits and harder frown from her. "...what!? The jerk!" she clenches her teeth. "After he had the gall to-- to!?" she huffs and stamps her foot onto the ground.

Now she's upset!

She peeks around the store. "I go to Infinity so not much help there, I'm afraid with other schools." she says meekly. "Infiniy and member of the kickboxing club!" she beams wide!

Sora Hisakata has posed:
"Maki-san is in my class, so I know she goes to Seishou." Sora answers on behalf of her classmate, in a slightly more elaborate fashion than may strictly be necessary. "I'm not adding stuff like dog collars, that'd just be telling the world I'm looking for someone to leash me. I got no patience for that."

She throws the shirt over her arm and goes looking for more. "Yeah, apparently the sister of one of the people he's been hitting on found out just how many people he'd been hitting on and called us all over. I left before I did something I'd end up regretting."

The talk of sports does seem to draw some more positive emotions from her, "Kickboxing huh? I'm part of the Volleyball team. Less physical contact, but it's fun." She sounds like it's one of the things she likes most about school.

Jiaying Maki has posed:
Jiaying Maki looks at the bird curiously and asks, "Someone else named him? There's no accounting for humor I guess?" She shrugs idly, then realizes that there doesn't seem to be a problem with a seagull in a store, which is odd in itself. Maybe hse's a regular. Before her mind wanders too far though, she nods towards Sora and says, "Right right, Seishou! It's the standard looking kind of uniform right? The white and blue with the red bow right?" She realizes she never really stopped to see if it was a full ribbon or what.

Looking to Maki, then back to Mikoto before asking, "Do a lot of people wear collars here? That's weird." Though she stops to consider and asks, "People don't really wear them that often right?" She won't admit to flea collars. Ever. She's sure there's pictures though. Still, the mention of sports and her steadfastly trying to avoid the other subject due to the whole anger thing and wanting to enjoy the evening says, "I always wanted to learn a martial arts, but I was too busy with other things. I kinda just wing it." Pause.. "Erh, the martial arts thing you know, play acting." Hey look a distraction, a sleeveless top wtih a rather complex pattern! White and black, should be good.. yes.