Osa-P! The best place to get jewelry in all of Tokyo! A place frequently swamped with women young and old, picking the sales counter clean and things like that! Suzuki is one of these women today! ... Mostly kind of ... inching around the edges, looking at the more expensive stuff, because honestly she's not a huge fan of crowds.
She has a semi-plan there, though! To look at things! And possibly /buy something/ for herself. But also she was having Verdrehen Sturm check the store, juuuust on the off chance some sort of magical devices of some sort ended up in the store, something that she did semi-regularly, just on the off chance some magical girl or something would wake up!
But mostly she was looking at things to try to accessorize. Aaaand she had no idea what she was doing. She'd picked a few things (From the unlocked cases and displays) to look at, all of which would look terrible with her current outfit, which was a rather formal kimono that had a nice bright and warm design as befitting summer. Also she was spending a lot of time trying hard to avoid her kimono being stepped on by the people shopping. To the point where she eventually just got tired of it and tied up part of her kimono in a knot to keep it out of the way. A travesty of fashion and tradition and... stuff.
Jiaying Maki is at the store as well! Though not so much for herself as for her girlfriend seeing as how she got a cute pendent from her and- well you can't get the same gift in return, but maybe she can find some matched earrings or something. That gets a frown from her and she starts to reach up for ears that aren't visible, wondering what that would look like. Maybe she'll mess with computer software to 'preview' it or maybe some stick on kinds of jewelry for those without pierced ears.
Really, this only takes a few moments, shifting back and forth from foot to foot as she thinks before putting her foot down and clearing her thoughts. That gets her to notice that there's someone in a kimono and that's just a rare sight. Well, not super rare, but rare enough that she sidles through the crowd to try and get a better look. She hasn't seen someone actually wearing one outside of movies or the pictures her father has of festivals. Her mission for the day is temporarily forgotten by a short attention span. Or curiousity, that's probably it.
Things Craft planned to do today. Be in a white button down shirt, suspenders and delughtful khakies while he made /dark evil science/ happen in an effort to thwart Steam Sentinels. What actually happened: 'Craft, get dressed and go get me things. I like things.'. Now. Craft did not like Miss Chambers one bit, alas- she was one of the two bosses and the other one barely ever spoke and gave him creepy vibes.
Largely he didn't want to think about it. Got into his tailcoat, jacket, and grabbed his cane and bowler hat and off he was. Lots of people seem crowded into this store as he walked in and he merely blunk once.
"It's like... staved animals. In a feeding frenzy." remarked Craft as he pursed his lips, dualy and began to also walk along the edges of the store. Besides.
Miss Chambers wanted expensive, he's sure. She probably ask the price before asking what it actually was. Alas.
His cane tapped against the ground as his eyes traced over to Suzuki, also hanging near the edges as he watches her tie her kimono into a knot.
His eyes shift to a 'way too expensive necklace that might aswell shine like a disco ball if you shine a light on it because it's that bedazzled.'. He taps his cane against the ground.
Ugh, people here are too riled up to detect anything like... false being. Oh well. Guess he can't hope for an easy rescue from this ennui today.
Another thing of note on Suzuki is that she appeared to have one of those cloth bags that are used to carry kendo swords and other similar things in them, which... was possibly a questionable combination of things. She just kind of screamed 'not normal' really. Still, she was looking at one of the locked cabinets with one of the more expensive things, squinting at it.
"Hmmm... let's see, how much is..." She murmurs under her breath, looking at the jewelry, though pausing and blanching slightly at the price. Noooope. That was out of her price range, that was for sure. She gives a soft exhale, turning around. She shifts slightly, lifting her kimono arm to her mouth, it almost looked like she was covering a cough, though in reality she was talking under her breath to her Device. "Do you detect anything in here that could be dangerous?"
<NEIN.>
The subtle ping of the device is likely lost in the hubub of the crowd, and she lowers her kimono arm. It was around then that she noticed someone was looking at her. She gives a slightly awkward smile in Jiaying's direction, bowing her head very slightly towards her. She hadn't ~quite~ noticed Craft immediately, though as she began to look around, she hesitated at the sight of him. He looked almost as out of place as she did. He was a boy, but also he was dressed extra fancy. She couldn't help but stop and watch him a few moments, because, well... rich people are interesting to look at. She lifts her kimono'd arm to her mouth to actually conceal a cough this time, an awkward one as she gives a somewhat apologetic nod towards him, and beginning to make her towards being out of sight. Which ends up putting her somewhat close to Jiaying!
Jiaying Maki doesn't look apologetic at all when she gets caught. She stares at the kimono a moment longer, murmuring to herself that the material seems kinda like her qipao. She tries scooting around to get a better look before she finally stops and grins at Suzuki. There's a brief moment of consideration, maybe just pretending she doesn't speak Japanese, then shrugs that thought off and says, "Hi!"
There's a quick moment where she looks frazzled and she jumps a bit, quickly turning around and pulling at something. There's a string of angry sounding Chinese which trails off when she sees a guy that looks rather strange. What with being a guy as noted and also the whole cane thing.- She almost makes her way over to take a look at it, catches herself and turns to look over the display cases finally.
Craft seems fancy and weird and like a really terrible victorian british sterotype that it's almost comical. He taps his cane against the glass of the really bedazzled necklace as he takes a note. That's one. He moves over across the way to a case that happens to be nearby the two girls as he peeks at a similar set. This one is a similar ostentatious necklace and earring set. He taps the glass with his cane again.
Nothing happens when he taps the glass.
It's more like he's doing it to take a mental note.
He then walks over to the two girls and blinks. "Hello." he says matter of factly. Then he stands there. As if waiting.
It's like he expects them to just part away from him to get past them without him having to actually ask.
Suzu gives a small smile towards Jiaying at her greeting. "Hello." Suzu responds softly. Though she hesitates, giving a puzzled look at her as she begins to curse in chinese and pull at ... something that wasn't necessarily there. Or was it? What was going on, anyway? "Are... you... uhm. Are you alright?" She asks towards Jiaying, her interest in others' well-being winning out over shyness or awkwardness.
She quietly offers her hand towards Jiaying, as if to help her up or something. It was a somewhat awkward gesture, if friendly. "Did something happen? I don't understand what you said, but that did sound like pain."
Aaaand then Craft walks up to them. There was something familiar about him.. ... wait. That was... oh right. Her memory was vague, but she remembered someone like him on top of a castle. She looks up at him quietly a few moments. "..Hello..?" She says towards him. She watches him quietly a few moments as he stands there, and she just kind of stands there and stares at him for a bit. Uuuuntil she realizes what that look means. That look like her father's, when he stares at her expectantly as if he expects her to know exactly what's going on. She moves slightly to the side, more towards Jiaying's side than her front, which miiiight clear the path for Craft. Though now she was sending a few mental commands to Verdrehen Sturm to track Craft. "All the stuff over here is rather expensive, isn't it?" She says, kiiiind of towards both to just kind of ... create conversation with these two kind-of-sort-of acquaintances. This is how you acquire friends, right?
Jiaying Maki holds both hands up and says embarassed, "Yes yes yes, everything is fine, nothing to worry about, I hit my knee just right on the counter." The one that's a few feet away. Whatever. "You know when you hit it and it stings and your leg goes numb, sort of like that." Sure, that works. She's totally not doing her best to avoid being stepped on by other customers either, not at all. She carefully lowers her hands and says, "Thank you though! Sorry if I was bothering you miss!" She offers a polite bow after, which is probably just wasting more time for Craft really.
It's only after she stands back up after that bow that she notices that Craft is there. "Oh! Sorry!" She offers quickly once more, stepping back and out of the way. Sort of assuming since she'd been standing there trying to deal with an invisible something or other, she was probably in his way, guessing by how he's acting. Back to Suzu, she slips out of the way of Craft and says, "That is a really pretty kimono though, uh- that's what I was looking at. Sorry!"
Craft walks past the two without saying anything at first, or even looking at them as he looks down at the next display case, this one has a few items in them. He crosses his arms, cane hanging from his wrist a moment as he seems to think this over. Money wasn't really an issue. He had to gauge things like wants and desires here. It had to look ostentatious. Something like a thin ring with a single diamond wouldn't do. Nonono.
Luckily, there were quite a few such pieces in the display case.
Then it dawns on him he's being talked to as he leans back up. He still doesn't turn.
"Expensive is desired right now." he says matter of factly. "And money isn't an object." he says.
He finally turns to the other two in a perfect 180 turn.
He blinks merely once
"I assumed the mass spectacle at the center of the store was where the dregs were going." he says matter of factly.
Suzuki gives Jiaying a curious look as she mentions banging her knee on the counter. She glances around a bit. Counter? ... It's hard to tell through the group of people. Oh! Maybe she just accidentally bumped knees with someone or something. That could be it! "Oh, well, that's good then!" Suzuki says with a bright smile, thinking a few moments. Wait, was it bad to bring attention to it? Hmmm/ "...You're welcome, and no, you weren't really bothering me. I've mostly just been kind of wandering around and looking at what they have." Suzuki says with a small nod.
Jiaying's compliment gets a slight blush and bow of Suzuki's head. "Ah, uhm! Thank you. I try to look good in them, even if my parents drive me a little nuts with how they want me to wear them all the time." She says with a soft chuckle. Nevermind the knot in her kimono to keep it off the ground right this moment. "Your dress looks really nice, too! It looks foreign, I don't generally see designs like that..."
As Craft looks at the display with his arms crossed, she looks towards him. She seems to think for a few moments, before she speaks up, "You can look at those more closely if you ask an employee to look at them." She says quietly, "I take it you're getting it for something special?" She asks curiously towards Craft. The comment of the spectacle at the center gets a soft chuckle. "Well... I wouldn't say dregs! But it's where the sales tend to be... on both expensive and inexpensive things." She says with a small nod.
Jiaying Maki sighs in relief when Suzuki buys the story. The advantage to normal people, if they can't see it, it's not there! She could almost laugh and almost does, but stops short. Returning the smile, she offers a polite bow of her head as well. "Good, good good. I'm glad! I- Do you always wear a kimono around? Are they hard to walk in?" Hey, she has an excuse to find out about kimonos! Nevermind that it's a crowded store and the various problems therein. At the mention of her parens making her wear them though, she suddenly kind of drops the smile and steps around the weird guy. "That's a shame, you do look great in it, but I could understand being frustrated if you didn't have a choice in the matter. They're hard to just hang up somewhere too aren't they?"
The compliment to her dark red dress trimmed in silver gets a warm smile though, the prior issue not forgotten, but pushed to the back of her thoughts for just a moment. Holding her her hands two the side she says cheerily "Thank you! I love qipaos, but I'm always afraid to wear them out and about!"
Craft's comment gets a curious look and she murmurs, "That's not very polite." Not sure if he means the people or the jewelry, but she had clearly leaned towards the former. Actually audible, she says to Suzu, "Are you here for someone else too?"
Craft mmmmss? "Someone special?" the term seems utterly lost on him. "No, I'm being asked to run an errand and this is the errand. 'Pick up pretty things.'." he says disdainfully. "I think I know what I'm leaving with now, regarldess." he says as he adjusts his hat rim down a bit with a finger tip.
The cane gets spun once before it hits the ground again with a soft tap as he looks at Jiaying as what he says is called out as 'not very polite'.
"Now, now." he says. "Just because the truth isn't polite doesn't make it any less the truth." he says matter of factly at Jiaying as he purses his lips.
"Look at the ... unordered chaos. For what?" he asks clearly to the two.
Yep. If they can't see it, it's not there. Totally. Suzuki is /totally/ not suspicious. Actually no she's just assuming that Jiaying wasn't lying and instead just mis-identified what she bumped into. Yep. "Oh, well... I actually tend to wear my school uniform a fair amount, but... yes, I do. And yes, it can be occasionally... honestly more of an issue is being stepped on in busy places like this, though." She mumbles. Really, it was a poor decision to wear this kimono to a busy store like Osa-P! But hindsight is 20-20.
"There's special things to hang them on, uhm... kind of like... I dunno. My closet looks a bit weird compared to most people's though. They're almost on like... have you seen those dividers they use sometimes? The metal ones with the drapes over them? It's kind of like those, though wooden, they have to be hand-washed and ... well... yes they're kind of a pain." She says with a nervous chuckle. "Not to sound ungrateful! They're beautiful. Just, well. It would be nice to not have to go through all the trouble sometimes."
The question of if she was there for someone else gets a couple of blinks, and she shakes her head. "Oh, uhm. No. I was just looking for some jewelry for myself, I don't think the person I would get jewelry for even would like it..." She says thoughtfully.
She looks towards Craft and gives a slow nod. "I see! Well... I guess they're special in that you'd do an errand for them." She says with a thoughtful look. "Hm? Well, for deals... and actually a lot of those women in there are far from the dregs, the biggest yen pinchers seem to be those who are richer." She says with a helpless shrug. "It is a battlefield for the best deals on that item they'd been eyeing for months, it may seem like unordered chaos, but there is an order to it in some ways..." Nevermind the crowd was all but fighting and pushing others out of the way.
"But, well. I suppose different views occur!" She says with a small nod. "I do hope you have a good evening, I won't hold you here any longer if you know what you wish to buy."
Jiaying Maki is completely above the table and legitimate. No she's not fuzzy around the edges if she's viewed from the right angles, she's long since fixed that as of earlier this week thank you! She listens curiously about the kimono, not having known a lot of that sutff. To be fair, without a visual reference she probably won't remember all of it right away, but she's trying! Though the comment on being stepped on gets a rueful look over her shoulder and she says, "All too familiar with that." Still, back to kimono care. "I have to hand wash or dry clean my qipaos, so that's the other reason I don't wear one very often." even if they are adorable.
A quick nod once more when she's answered, "Oh! I uh, I'm sorry. I was just- That's why I came here, but I think I'm going to try a different gift. Jewelry in exchange for jewelry feels too easy." And probably just her overthinking an issue.
Craft is given a slight shrug. "I like jewelry, it's pretty, but I'm not going to dive into a feeding frenzy. I understand the desire for the best deals and the desire to look good for- well. I want to look good for her, so I get why they'd want to look good for their dates too! And you should always be polite! It invites bad luck and other problems otherwise!"
Craft crosses his arms again. Wether this is a defensive action or not is up for debate, as he still grips his cane properly instead of letting it hang off his wrist this time.
He frowns a bit, going from straight face, to frowning. ".....ah. I see what you mean now. No. No..."
"'Love' and it's associated activities are a waste of time. It is the single most ugliest blight in this world. There's a reason they call it 'Falling into Love' because once you fall in, you never get out." he snaps. "It's basically an awful pit." he assures them both.
"Now then, yes, I will try to get an attendent." he says matter of factly as he walks past both of them.
That look behind her from Jiaying gets a curious look from Suzuki, though she seems to be too polite to actually ask what she was looking at! Just a little puzzled. "Ah, well... at least dry cleaning you can get done... even if it does tend to cost a bit." She says with a simple nod. She listens to her comment though. "Honestly, I'd prefer to keep my kimonos for special occasions, my parents are just... odd." She says with a simple nod.
"Hmm... a gift... well, you could always make them a meal they like if you're good at cooking. Or some sweets, as well. At least until you can arrange the other gift. The little things can matter a lot!" Suzu says with a quick nod.
Craft gets a curious look. "Uhm... actually... I ... wasn't saying anything about love. I was more saying she was probably your boss or someone you respect or ... something..." She says with a helpless shrug. "But, uhm... well... you're welcome to your own opinions on such things." Suzu says with a bit of an awkward shift. She was totally trying not to provoke the guy who summoned a /castle/ to attack people last time she saw him. "...Oh, and, uhm... yeah. It's mostly, well..." She turns, looking towards the crowd. "Mostly middle-aged women it seems like..."
Jiaying Maki watches the swarming crowd and pulls her hands closer against her briefly, almost like she's tugging whatever that invisible something is, out of the way. Looking to Suzu she nods quickly and says, "I was thinking something similar, less likely to get trampled right?" She jumps in surprise as someone passes right behind her, bumping into her briefly. With a quick shake hf her head, she says to Craft, "It's nothing like that! You fall into it because it's not always expected, but it's a great thing!"
Craft stops on his walk towards the front of the store. He doesn't turn around. "You're wrong." he says matter of factly. "You'll see." he says. "And when you do see. Well. Don't say I didn't try to warn you." he says with a more pointed and ominous tone.
He then pointedly leaves the conversation past and around the gaggle of arguing women.
Suzu takes a small breath while Jiaying speaks to Craft, her gaze on Craft silently for a few moments, but it seems like things aren't going to escalate. "It is a great thing." She says with a small smile and not towards Jiaying. "And yeah... something less likely to be trampled is very good!" She adds.
She watches Craft leave, and gives a slow exhale, leaning in towards Jiaying, "Careful around him. He's dangerous. I recognize him from... something." She says quietly, taking a step away from Jiaying afterwards. "I should go check out and get going home, it was nice to meet you!" She says, bowing her head towards Jiaying. "I'm Suzuki Natsume."
Jiaying Maki watches Craft leave and rubs the back of her head. That parting comment is kind of an ominous outtro really. She makes a mental note to keep an eye out for the guy for future reference. Then she looks back to Suzu, smiles and says cheerfully, "I thought something seemed off about him. He gives off that vibe right?" She returns the bow and says cheerfully, "Jiaying Maki, pleasure to meet you Natsume, I'll make sure to keep an eye out for him."
"I saw him in the news before I think, but I think he actually is dangerous..." Suzu says softly, keeping her voice low. She smiles towards Jiaying. "It's nice to meet you, Maki-san! I hope you have a good evening and can find a suitable gift for your friend!" She says, before making her way off towards the cash registers.