It is basically a beautiful day in Tokyo, with temperatures having finally fallen out of summer stupid into gloriously comfortable autumn temperatures, and some clouds to break up the sunshine. It is a day that is prime for being outside, sopping up fresh air and good wholesome activities.
Which pretty much ensures that there's a pack of teenagers in the Crown afterschool with ice cream smoothies.
Naru has taken over a table up in the cafe, staking out a claim with school satchel and sketchbook and milkshake for friends to join her. She just happens to be the first one to have arrived, and is keeping herself busy with doodles and ice cream. And the occaisional stifled yawn. Late movie nights are late.
Hoshi is not, strictly speaking, a teenager. But she knows Naru and when she sees the older girl she comes over, Banana milkshake in hand, "Hey Osaka-san." She greets cheerfully, one of her stars popping up next to her, holding a yellow sketchbook and a pencil, drawing something on that paper. "You look tired, did you have a bad dream?"
Some other people look fatigued in entirely different ways.
Namely, one (1) Alex, who is stumbling his way along doesn't seem so much fatigued because of lack of sleep -- but rather through very recent exertion. And the bruising visible along one side of his face to the point where he's forced to keep one eye closed.
He at least attempts to put up a picture of energy in spite of all that, though. Even if it is by way of being mostly silent, up first -- up until his hands suddenly come clapping down from above against Naru's shoulders from behind with an all-too-happy "Helllllloooooooooooooo," chimed out in utter contrast of how he looks currently.
It is a lovely, bright, cheerful day in Tokyo, which means that more than likely Kukai Souma will be training for one sport or another. Except two things - he was running around all yesterday doing soccer training, and then was up late last night hunting some sort of youma-monster-thing, he's not even sure at this point. It dissipated when it ate a few electric soccer balls, though.
But that means today was crap. Kukai had been exhausted all day and then after school the ideas of training and all that sounded awful. So it's time to go do something nice and relaxing. Like getting something to eat at the Crown and maybe even playing a game. See who's there.
It's easy enough to see Naru when Kukai enters, so he gives her a wave as he comes in, as well as Hoshi and whomever the - wait, who's that guy putting his hands on Naru's shoulders like that? Intriguing! Kukai grins and approaches the table. "Hey, Naru, Hoshi." He sees the yawns Naru's hiding and tries to resist his own. "Oh, don't do that, I'm not that sleepy, promise..."
"Hey Hoshi." Naru looks up from her doodles of a lanky cat, just a silly little sketch, clearly. Her smile turns rueful at that question. "I did, actually. AND I stayed up late watching movies with Usagi, makes for a sleepy day. How're you?"
"GAH!" Naru startles as she ends up with hands upon her shoulders and she nearly falls out of her seat. Naru tips her head back to look up at a battered Alex with his hands upon her shoulders and she pauses a moment before she grins at him. "You look like hell." She informs him with that same cheer he's provided with his greeting.
As Kukai arrives, she lifts a hand to wave at him and then laughs at his words. "I promise not to yawn, if you promise not to yawn. What kept you up late, or do I want to ask?"
And thus pops into being a little star on a yellow pillow, wearing a nightcap who immediately goes into a comically huge yawn, then turns over. The pillow drifts over towards Kukai's head. Hoshi claims herself a seat and takes a sip from her milkshake, looking up at all the older people, magical or otherwise. "I'm doing ok, just bored. Dad's over in London to talk business, so there's not much to do at home."
"Hey, Hell don't have anything to do with it, don'tcha know?" The tall very-decidedly caucasian teenaged boy tells Naru with perhaps surprisingly-fluent japanese -- even if it carries a noticably european accent within his voice. "Just a buncha thugs that had a thing or two comin' for 'em." One hand lifts up from Naru's shoulder, and Alex ruffles the girl's hair briefly in a light, teasing and affectionate gesture before he steps 'round her and snaps his eyes up to take in the figures of Hoshi and Kukai alike.
"Yo," greets the european, thus, with a hand rising up. "I'm Alex."
Kukai starts as Naru starts, but then grins a minute later as she looks back at Alex and smiles. He looks over at the sleepy star floating towards him, then reaches over, patting Hoshi's shoulder in greeting. "Thugs, huh? That's dangerous stuff - hopefully they have long memories of the fight." His eyes run over Alex's knuckles for a moment.
He hmms at the hair ruffling, then nods at Alexis. "Hi. I'm Kukai Souma. It's nice to meet you!" He gives Alex a thumbs up and that trademark Jack's Grin, that cheerful, morale-boosting, joyous smile. "Which school do you go to, Alex? Or have you started one yet?" His stomach grumbles, and he mmphs. "Also. Anybody hungry? I'm starving.."
"That seems like prime sleep over time, Hoshi." Naru advises as she reaches out to prod Alex in the ribs when he musses up her hair. "I used to have sleepovers at Usagi's when my Mom was away on business trips."
Naru gestures towards Hoshi as Alex introduces himself. "That's Hoshi, and Kukai introduced himself. Perfect." She reaches for Alex's hand to attempt to pull him closer and have a look at the bruise.
"I'm good, Kukai. I'm pretty sure Usagi and I demolished enough pizza that I might not need to eat for a week, but the milkshake is about right for the moment." Naru grins brightly. "How're you doing?"
"If I had a sleepover every time dad was off for work I'd never sleep." Hoshi answers Naru with a faint sigh, then she introduces herself properly to Alex, "Hoshi Kogane, I go to Seishou Elementary." It's not like the uniform didn't prove that already or anything. "I could eat something, I suppose." She takes another sip out of her milkshake and glances towards Kukai, "You know Amu Hinamori, right?"
As it happens, Alex's knuckles on both hands do bear signs of bruising too, with some split skin here and there leaving way to peeks of red. Evidence that whatever fight he was in wasn't at least entirely one-sided in the favor of the ones responsible for the bruising on his face.
"Me?" He says then, when asked of his school, and jerks a thumb towards himself. "Verone High. What, you ain't tell I'mma one of those elite geniuses, yah?" This, he claims, all while wearing a brown leather jacket and biker boots alongside sporting several fight-borne bruises and scrapes and a speech-pattern vaguely reminiscient to that of your typical delinquent. The wide, tooth-baring grin he flashes out does suggest, though, that he is acutely aware of the irony.
Despite the particular broad-shouldered, tall - if slouched - frame he imposes, the tug on his hand from the redhead below almost *instantly* pulls him down to a seat with a *thud*, claiming to Naru instantly, "I'm fiiiiiiiiiiiine," like he knows just *exactly* what's about to come.
Kukai nods. "It's good to hear you and she are both doing good. And that sounds like a lot of pizza. Me? I'm..." He shrugs. "I dunno. Today? Tired, maybe a little sore. But in general? I'm good. Things are good." He looks back and forth, then shrugs. "Actually it's kinda boring. I'm actually at a point where things are so quiet that nothing's happening. Amu's back and running around like crazy, which is good. Utau is off scheming to herself, and Ikuto's floating around, but they're not causing trouble, which is good. Tadase's fine, Nadeshiko is... really good..." There's a grin, there. "And generally things are in control. It's like everybody including the youma are taking the end of summer off to rest and recharge. And I like that."
He nods over to Hoshi. "Yeah, sure, I know Amu-chan. What for?" He looks back over to Alexis, then grins. "Oh, cool. Verone needed some sporty blood. Are you on any of their teams?" Kukai grins. "I'm on the Seiyou Public soccer and basketball teams, and maybe the baseball team if they get things together next year. I like sports." He watches Naru attending to Alex and grins. He knows what that sort of attention is like.
It's been a somewhat trying couple of days for Kyouko. Honestly she hasn't wanted to stray too far from Mamoru's apartment, to the point of taking off of work (as she told Kunzite that she would) in order to be more available should some further crisis develop, especially while he was still recovering. That said, with nothing actually happening there's only so much she can do, and sitting around scowling suspiciously at everyone and everything eventually had forced her to step out for a while before murder was done, one way or the other.
So she came to get a milkshake. This place is close enough to home that she could return quickly if she was needed, but provides the much-welcomed distraction of sweet treats and DDR, something she's gotten to indulge in far less than she'd like in the past few months.
Kyouko enters the place in hoodie and jeans, hands shoved in pockets and newly-short hair framing a face with a pensive, if not actually frowning, expression.
"Eventually, you get tired enough to actually sleep. Sleepover or not." Naru assures Hoshi with a quirk of a smile. Her attention turns back to Alex as he sits down with a thud next to her and she reaches a hand to to brush at his bruised face, gently. "Mmm. Right. /Fine/." Its almost as if she doesn't entirely believe him, but there's a quick affectionate kiss to his undamaged cheek in spite of her disbelief.
"It's quieter, I agree Kuaki. Not quite /that/ quiet though, or perhaps I'm still really good at wrong place, wrong time. At least I've stopped getting chewed on every other day, although /someone/ seems to be trying to match my record." Naru smirks briefly at Alexis before looking back to Kukai. "Shiniko has stepped things up, which is worrisome on a bunch of levels."
As Kyouko arrives, Naru glances over in that direction and waves to the girl.
Nadeshiko yawns and stretches as she enters the Crown, just behind a girl in a hoodie. Today, it's just one of those days.
Basketball. Dance practice. Basketball. School. Dance.
And, well, after one of those days, a boy just wants to feel pretty.
She didn't know Kukai would be here. The skip of her heart is telltale of that when she spots him.
With a bit more bounce to her step, she's hugging him from behind, far more comfortable with the PDA in a skirt than she is in a basketball jersey. "Ku-kai-kun~."
And of course, there are waves and greetings to everone else.
Hoshi nods, "I just wish he was home more, really." She answers Naru, and she sounds genuinely a little sad. She changes tone a bit to answer Alexis, "Dad didn't want me to go to Verone because he thought it'd be better if I got to interact with people outside our usual circles." She smiles when she says it, and adds, "I do have friends who go to Verone. It's a pretty nice school."
Then she glances towards Kukai, "Oh do you know if she has a boyfriend? Because she has this list of people she was crushing on while she was away and she seemed a little guilty while she was sharing it, and I'm not sure if I should tell anyone." The look on her face suggests she's memorized the list down to the last little detail.
When Shiniko's name is mentioned, a little black egg that had been sitting in one of the shadowy corners of the place cracks open, and a little bird opens its eyes, too tiny to be any credible threat, its wingtips are nonetheless having little bits of that familiar cold flame. It seems fine with just listening.
"Yeah, *fine*," Alex duly insists to NAru, and it may or may not be just about all he can do to *not* outright stick his tongue out at her indignantly. He promptly silences himsel from the cheek-kiss, however, and... well, he may or may not slump slightly along his chair. Just a bit.
"Kickboxing," he does offer, however, in answer to Kukai's question. "I like sports. Mostly. I don't really take part in most of 'em these days, though, I kinda just--" Aaaaand he bites his teeth down together to stop his words there. Now what was he going ot say there? OH, well.
And, after drawing a brief, curious peek to the way of Kyouko, he provides an utterly exasperated look towards Hoshi. "Um," he lets out. "Didn't you just... kinda... tell everyone here...?"
Kukai nods a little and then hmms. "You do have a habit of showing up right in the middle of trouble. I'd almost say it's like you were meant to be there, only you don't have a way to handle the worst of it, like it's trying to catch up to you." He rubs his chin, thinking. "Shiniko... I don't know if I should~"
Warm arms around his middle and a tight-pressed hug from behind make him stiffen for a second just before he hears that familiar voice saying his name. He smiles wider than he had yet today and reaches down, wrapping his hands over the ones around his middle, looking back over his shoulder at Nadeshiko. "Na-chan! Hey, what're you doing here?" He's happy to let her lean against him as she waves at the others, Shiniko forgotten for the moment just before a little pinprick on the edge of his notice pops up. He looks around for a moment, missing the bird, but then shakes his head and continues. "I keep wondering if I should try to find Shiniko or not. On the one hand, I'm good at fighting her. On the other, I tend to piss her off more than anybody else, which I still don't understand. Ever since that day in the park with Daichi..."
The Chara, hearing his name, peeks up from where he's planted, staring in at the popcorn popper, wrestling with the idea of just diving in headfirst, then goes back to his food-watching.
Kukai turns a bit to look at Hoshi, then rubs his chin. "Amu and Tadase are.. well, she was gone for a long time, but they were an item when she left. I don't know what's up now. But Amu has always had a big list of crushes. I... wouldn't share something that someone told me like that without their permission, though."
Kukai nods after a moment to Alex. "I love sports, but I don't do any of the combatitive ones. Competition, not fighting, you know? But that sounds cool." He looks over to where Alex is looking - oh, hey. That's Kyouko. Kukai waves a little at her in polite greeting, and then looks back to the others.
Kyouko spies motion directed towards her, ever-roving eyes picking out the waves from Naru and Kukai. The former gets a smile and a return wave, the latter (who she is familiar with but only in a 'friend of friends' sort of way) gets a polite nod. She doesn't join them immidiately however, seeing as there's quite a group already gathered.
Instead she heads to the counter to order herself a massive milkshake, which is of the size intended for two normal people, or one Kyouko as it turns out. Leaning her elbow on said counter, she waits for it to arrive, tapping one foot in a display of distracted, nervous energy.
"Based on how Tadase and Amu were acting when I saw them together a couple weeks ago, I'd personally lay bets that they are still a /thing/. I could be wrong, but that's where my bets would fall." Naru comments with a smile as she leans absently against Alex when he slumps a bit in his seat. "Crushes seem like the sort of thing that doesn't need to be shared. I tend to think of that sort of list as something that's pretty harmlessly amusing, to be honest, but personal. Amu's a cutie."
"If you do, Kukai, give me a call. What happened in the park with Daichi?" Naru asks of him, curious. She watches Kyouko settle over at the counter, and moves just enough to dig out her cell phone, texting with the speed of the teen girl she is.
Daichi's indecision on diving into the popcorn maker is taken away when he's suddenly tackled by a very enthusiastic and affectionate Rhythm. There's a small 'poof!' of exploding popcorn followed by a boyish giggle. "Daichiiii~!"
Temari, for her part, sighs at her brother's antics. She settles on Kyouko's shoulder, not really knowing her, but having seen enough of her to notice the change in style. "You are looking very pretty, Sakura-san. Not that you weren't before, but the new hair suits you."
Nadehsiko feels the tense before the relax and can't help but smirk. "Dance practice is exhausting work, and I find myself needing grease and ice cream laden drinks." A worried hand flutters along his cheek and forehead, and okay, it's mostly an excuse to touch him. "Are you hungry?"
"It is healthier to keep quiet on such things. You never know when their best friend is around." With a fortunately distracted Temari...oy oy oy.
She leans up and whispers sweet nothings in Kukai's ears.
Which, as it turns out, swee nothings are sometimes the kind of food available. 'Salty, hot potato goodness' and 'enough grease to run a car shop' could probably be heard by those at the table, along with a grumbling tummy.
"Oh, oops, you're right. I should've asked in private." Hoshi doesn't look remotely sorry, and she digs out a yellow phone, looking through it as though she's trying to remember which one of those is Tadase's, with a look on her face that suggests she's trying to get a rise out of someone. Perhaps Nadeshiko /should/ have been more threatening towards her. One of her stars, wearing a traditional Japanese dress, floats over towards Temari, and dances in the air right before landing next to the chara.
Kukai nods at Hoshi and points to Naru. "What she said, then. It's all copascetic. And probably keep it to yourself." He grins at Yellow and pats her shoulder again. "You can tease her about the list later or something." He turns back to Naru. "Yeah, I will. Oh, and it was... it was a thing." He looks over at the popcorn machine just in time to watch Rhythm bullet train Daichi into the fresh popcorn. "I had a romancing thing going on and it was a big to-do. It's all good now though."
Daichi surfaces and then laughs, hugging Rhythm close and trying to not get magically clean shoe prints on perfectly good popcorn. "Rhythm!"
Kukai looks back at Nadeshiko, then ooohs at the words. His stomach can't help but growl again louder. "Mmph. Excuse us, will you? I can hear a burger calling from behind the counter, and apparently if I don't feed Na-chan she's going to start chewing my shoulder." He walks with Nadeshiko over towards the counter next to Kyouko, eyeing the milkshake. "Hey Kyouko. ...That looks like a lot of brain freeze. What flavor is it?"
Kyouko blinks as her phone buzzes. Pulling it out of her pocket, she glances at the screen, then types out a few quick back-and-forth texts with Naru. She's just slipping it away again when Temari alights on her shoulder, causing her to quirk a brow slightly. She knows about Charas, of course, but is not close enough with any Chara Bearer to have extensive experience with them. A little star wearing a dress lands next to the Chara. Seems like all the little critters are attracted to Kyouko today, though she doesn't seem to mind and does nothing to chase them off.
A small smile twists her lips up at one corner at the compliments, though. "Thanks." She says. "It's a bit of a change, but change feels good recently, so I've decided to embrace it."
Kukai arrives at the counter with Nadeshiko in tow, and he gets a polite, if lopsided smile. "Caramel swirl. I feel the need for more sugar than I can safely handle today."
There's a soft snort of amusement from Naru as she catches some of the antics of the little ones playing in the popcorn and she looks over to watch Hoshi playing with her phone and there's a quirk of her brow. "Teasing about other people's emotions and relationships is pretty crummy, y'know, Hoshi. Try and keep it good teasing, and not mean."
Naru waves to Kukai and Nades with a chuckle. "Well can't have /that/, clearly. Nades.. we were supposed to find time at some point to talk training. We really /should/." She hrms softly and then resettles with her own milkshake, watching Kyouko get amubushed by people, big and small.
Rhythm laughs and hugs some more! And then his nose twitches as he inhales the aroma of freshly popped popcorn and sighs.
Hoshi gets an arched brow, probably amused, probably a warning, probably both.
Temari watches the star dance before it lands next to her, and she gives a giggling smile in greeting.
And at Kyouko's words about change, Temari sneaks a peek back at her Nagihiko and smiles. "Oh yes. Change can do wonders for a person."
Speaking of, Nadeshiko snorts before nibbling Kukai's shoulder. "Food won't stop me. And really. Just one burger?"
It doesn't help that she suspects she's still in the throws of another growth spurt. While he's still a good bit taller than her, it's easier to rest her chin on Kukai's shoulder than it had been.
Then she visibly woes at Naru. "We do! I'm so sorry. Dance practice and basketball have taken up more time than I thought. But you have my number, right? Do you have my address?"
She also wonders how this Alex kid would respond to his apparent girlfriend getting trained by a boy. Heh. Good thing she's in a skirt!
This doesn't stop her from trolling, though...
She flashes Naru a flirtatious wink. "I promise to behave myself."
At the counter, she shoots out a rapid-fire order of food enough for two or three adults while Kukai is talking to Kyouko. At the end she points to th emilkshake. "And one of those looks good, too! And thebiggest plate of greasy, salty, cheesey, chillied fries you got to share. And a small bag of popcorn, apparently. Kukai, what do you want?"
She blinks at Kyouko for a moment. "Growth spurt for you, too? You need clothes? I'm on Wardrobe Set Number Three this year."
With Naru's chastising, Hoshi puts away her phone. Another star pops up next to her head, a winged one which makes a show out of picking up a halo and putting it right back in place. She doesn't otherwise say a word about it, but she gives an innocous smile that would be much more convincing if that star hadn't just come out and pulled that. She shoots it an annoyed side-eye. She then proceeds to sip more from her milkshake.
The little star on Kyouko's shoulder makes another quick twirl towards Temari, then stumbles and falls down face-first. It pushes itself up and grins, clearly not minding it in any way whatsoever.
Kukai oohs at the milkshake. "That sounds awesome. Think I'll do my sugar injection today with chocolate, though." He orders a double large hamburger with bacon from the counter, one arm around Nadeshiko. And a bag of popcorn. "It's a very big burger, Na-chan. You get what you'd like, too." He keeps his shoulder still for her to balance her chin on.
Kyouko shrugs her shoulders, but carefully so as not to discomfort the inhabitants currently residing there. "Well, if it's good change, anyway. And dependin' on where you started out. For me, it's all about new phases.." She doesn't elaborate, though. Temari doesn't have the knowledge or reason to care about the details of Kyouko's life, which is just fine by her.
At Nadeshiko's comment, she just smirks slightly, shaking her head. "I think I'm done growin', but thanks anyway. I got plenty of clothes.. I just feel the need for sugar, today. A lot of sugar." She doesn't go into details here either, as again, private business is private, at least for the moment, but indicates by her tone that she's had a somewhat draining couple of days.
"I have your number, yes." Naru replies back to Nades from over at the table. "I don't think I have your address. You can text it to me when we finally manage to kick our schedules. Mine hasn't looked much better, so don't worry too much." She offers a bright grin at the wink, and returns it in the sentiment in which it was sent. "Awwww. I'm so disappointed to hear that." She giggles softly, shaking her head.
There's a little flash of a grin at the star picking up the halo and a soft little giggle. "Un hunh." Naru looks gently amused at the innocuous smile out of Hoshi. "So other than teasing people about crushes and missing your Dad, how are things, Hoshi?"
Nadeshiko grins at Naru. "Well. Maybe if you ask nice, I won't."
At the counter, she's quick to text her address to Naru, followed by instrutcions to tell them she knows the twins if she isn't there. Next text warning Naru if that's the case, prepare for tea, and ignore any embarassng stories Aunty tells.
A long, woeful sigh to Kyouko. "Fair enough. I guess I could find a thrift store to give them to if I can't find anyone."
Such a shame. She has nice clothes, too--
Hey, would Zoisite be interested in raiding her clo--
Wait, he's taller than she is. But maybe he could find something.
Temari may not have knowledge, but she doesn't need a reason. Still, best not to pry.
A kiss to the shoulder, and Nadeshiko waits for the food before bringing it back to the table. The platter of fries sit in the middle of the table with a gesture of 'go ahead' to the others. She'd say it outloud, but her mouth is already got about half a burgeri n it.
Maybe the bruises that Alex collected before have caught up to him to brin some of the fatigue in -- and consequently cause him to be mostly silent for a while.
...Or maybe he's just been distracted by the tiny people hopping around on peoples' shouldrs and getting up to all sorts of hijinks. And staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaring at them in utter exasparation. Some things? Some things he still just doesn't know how to take.
But! His attention is soon brought to peeeeeering at NAdeshiko, and then at Naru, with the slightest of squints. "...Training for what?"
Hoshi shrugs. "Fine, really. Grey is no longer the new Orange, so that's good, and I have my friends and my hobbies, so there's no real room to complain there." She doesn't sound too happy. In fact, it sounds like she's leaving something out very deliberately. A star pops up in the air next to her, holding a shotgun and aiming up at the sky as though it's hunting some kind of bird.
At first, Temari is distracted by the antics of the star. She giggles and dances with, until--
That Look. That human has a look in his eye. For her, for stars--
For Rhythm.
Her eyes glint dangerously, and Suddenly Nadeshiko is lunged forward, hands gripping tight on Alex's shirt. Her face is a snarl.
"You keep lookin' at Rhythm like that, I'll plant my boot so far up yer ass you'll be tastin' shoe leather for a month, got it?"
Rhythm, of course, sees, and tackles his sister in hugs and loves.
And of course, Nadeshiko's eyes widen, her grip quickly loosened, and suddenly she's hiding under the table, huddling against Kukai's leg. A hand ocmes up, flops around, and drags her burger down with her. "I am so sorry..."
That may or may not be inteligible wth a mouth full of food.
Kukai grins at Kyouko, then nods. "Well, hey, at least you're not as scary as you used to be. I feel like I can at least talk to you now. I heard from your sister - how's she doing, by the way? - you've got a new job? How is that?"
He nods Kyouko over towards the table, following his tray with the burger and popcorn and milkshake along with Nadeshiko over to the table. He doesn't mind or at least pretends not to mind the whole Nadeshiko and Naru sharing numbers and addresses and making dates and winks, but a small green flash in his eyes does mean it's not going to be forgotten for later.
Daichi looks up and sees Alexis staring at him, then waves cheerfully. "Hi!" Kukai is listening to Hoshi talk, nodding a little - keeping an eye on the Prism Keepers is one of his self-appointed tasks, after all, and he's been woefully lax in it recently - and misses the original launch for Nadeshiko across the table, looking over at her as she almost pulls Alex out of his seat. "....Na-chan?!" And then she's under the table, muttering something about sorries. Kukai grabs that hand as it's got the hamburger in it, and tugs at it. "Oh no you don't, come back up here and face up to your actions." The burger tug-of-war goes back and forth...
Kyouko quirks a brow at Nadeshiko as she mentions a thrift shop. "Hey, my little sister works at a thrift shop. It's at <address.> I'm sure they'd be happy to take anythin' you don't want anymore."
She then eyes Kukai, her smirk turning just a little bit wry. "Well.. I'm not sure how to take that honestly, but I suppose I'll choose to take it as a compliment that I'm no longer so intimidating as to be unapproachable." She grins after a moment and shrugs.. "Momo's good, though I should be getting home to check on her, I think.."
"New job? Heh.. sort of. Whatever you wanna call it.. it's good." She slips from her stool then, taking the half-finished giant milkshake with her. "I should run though. Nice seein' you guys." She eyes Nadeshiko as she apparently freaks out on Alexis, if only momentarily. "Have fun." A laugh, and a wave to Naru, and she's on her way back out.
"Weapons." Naru answers Alex's question about training absently and then she blinks as Nades lunges at Alex and she sits up abruptly and reaches between them. "Wait.. what?" She pretty much missed Kyouko's departure as she looks between Kukai and Nades, utterly confused. "I missed something here.."
"These guys get crazy sometimes, I think it's because they put parts of themselves in those crazy little eggs." Hoshi tells Naru, sorta missing the mark when she guesses how it works. One star pops up next to Nadeshiko, and it cracks open like an egg, revealing another star inside. That one twirls around a staff, then closes the star-egg which pops out of existence.
There's an indignant sound from under the table, muffled by food, and there is indeed a moment of tug-o-war.
Finally, she gives him an 'et tu, Kukai?' look and is somehow able to make crawling from out of under the table look dignified. She plops in her own chair and loudly scrapes it on the floor as she turns pointedly away from him, arms crossed and nose in the air.
"'Your actions' my ass."
Temari's looking sheepish, but now that he got her out of that, Rhythm flies at Alex. "Yay you can see me now! Yay!"
Temari's close behind, holdng up a piece of popcorn as an apology.
Nadeshiko looks at the star out of the corner of her eye and gives a soft snort. "Not all of us are crazy."
Amu, for one. Kukai's more or less on the scope of sanity.
EXCEPT FOR RIGHT NOW THE MORON!
Kukai looks over at Hoshi for a moment. "That's not quite it, but.." He finally lets go of the burger as Nadeshiko comes out from under the table and turns away from him. "This has nothing to do with a world-class rear end, Na-chan. You should apologize to Alex because I think you scared the poor guy. Even Rhythm and Temari are apologizing."
He looks back over at Hoshi for a second and grins. "no, no, we're pretty crazy, we just manage it well." He pokes Nadeshiko in the lower ribs for a moment surrepticiously under the table. "I'm sure my girlfriend will apologize at some point, Alex, she's just very very protective of her Charas, like I am of Daichi. I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt them."
He looks at Naru for a moment. "At least it's not 'old plant boyfriend from space come to kidnap you' or something, yeah?" There's that grin again. Kukai's taking this all in stride.
"We're all various flavours of crazy." Naru points out with a little shake of her head and a slow relaxing as it appears as if there's not going to be a fight right here at the table.
A low little chuckle emerges from Naru at Kukai's words and her tone is darkly amused. "Hey, he wasn't my boyfriend, and he wanted to kill me, not kidnap me. I haven't been kidnapped.. only the once really and that was basically forever ago." The fact that she isn't protesting the plant from space part.. well that's a minor technical detail.
Hoshi looks at the antics that occur, and sighs again. She slips on her milkshake. "So uh, guys... this is just a what if thingy, butt..." She pauses, perhaps trying to come up with a way to word. "Say you had a friend who was corrupted by darkness, and is doing things to hurt people, and there's some darkness that is stopping you from trying to check up on them, what would you do?"
Nadeshiko turns and just stares at Kukai for a moment. Seriously? He's blaming her for this?
For a moment she contemplates the milkshake, but no, it's too good. Instead...
"Baka!" This is punctuated with a smack on his head and she gets up to cuddles against Naru's boyfriend.
"Alexis-kun, I'm sorry." She pulls away, giving him his persnal bubble back, and looks at Naru. "Souma-kun is right, though. I really should learn how to control Temari's temper better. Usually she's much better about it nowadays, but she is a new sorta-sister still."
Temari droops a little on the other side of Naru's glass.
However, not even being embarassed can stop her from asking about very pretty people who are very nice and pretty and stoic and pretty.
"Speaking of, how is Kunzite-sama~?" Temari looks up at Naru, a faint blush visible on her cheeks. Maybe even some hearts in her eyes.
At Hoshi's quesion, she hums in thought. "Purification could help if it's an influence and not, you know, them being made up of it."
Kukai hmms at Hoshi. "Yeah. The darkness bit isn't something to play around with - clear that up first, and the rest will work itself out." The eyes of Nadeshiko on the back of his head are pretty obvious, but then..
*WHACK* "Ow!" Kukai reaches up, rubbing the back of his head and eyeing Nadeshiko with some surprise. "Geez, I think you left a welt. What the hell..." He watches Nadeshiko cuddle up against Alexis and his eyes narrow, especially at the Souma-kun. But... Oh. Temari. Was that what happened? "Hmph. I shoulda guessed. It's ok, Rhythm still likes me." He casts a look over at Rhythm for a moment to confirm, one hand still on the back of his head. It's a good thing he was most of the way through his burger, cause he's got a bit of a mad on now. Even though it was his fault.
"Kunzite is just fine." Naru assures Temari, peeking around her glass to be able to reassure the little one. "If you want, I can let him know you were asking after him."
There's a glance between Alex and Nades and Kukai at the temper having and temper giving in to, and she just lets that slide for now. Nades and Kukai get to sort themselves out without her help. Or 'help'.
"Um." Naru looks to Hoshi a moment and then considers her query. "Preventing even indirect ways of checking up on them? Like even via friends or the like?"
"We tried that." Hoshi murmers a little softly when the topic of purification comes up, showing the lie to the 'just hypothetical' part, and letting out a faint sigh. She finishes her milkshake and sets it down, and right then a little series of notes comes from her bag. She looks at it and sighs more deeply. "I'm sorry, my dad's wife is asking me why I'm not home yet..."
Temari beams up at Naru. "Oh, could you? I do not get to see him often enough."
Rhythm just sort of blinks at everything. However, at the sond of his name, he turns to Kukai and gives him a broad grin, two thumbs way up.
"Rhythm likes everybody." This is probably a bit mean, but wounded pride! Hurt feelings!
Rhythm settles on Kukai's shoulder and sighs, a companionable arm on the larg neck next to him. "Women, right?"
Not that he knows what that means, but Kukai's gotta know he has a buddy!
Nadeshiko blinks at Hoshi. "You did? Hmm. If there was a hypothetical name, people could hypothetically be aware there's more to the situation and--" Another blink. "Oh! Okay. School project? Procrastination? You'll think of something!"
Kukai grins at Rhythm and reaches up, patting his head. "Women. And I'm glad you like everybody - at least I don't have to worry about you randomly flying off the handle and throttling somebody. Or me. Which has happened." He's measuredly not looking at Nadeshiko right now, even with a canny grin on his face. "Anyway, I think I'm gonna head home. I'm kinda worn out. It was good to see you all, Naru, Hoshi, Alex, Na-chan."
He stands, popping the last bite of his burger into his mouth and picking up the half-filled milkshake and wrapping the last of the popcorn up into a little bag. "C'mon Daichi." Daichi blinks, then waves to everybody and hops onto Kukai's shoulder besides Rhythm...
"Purification didn't help?" Naru hrms softly to Hoshi. "That's never good. Hard to watch from afar, too." She sounds sympathetic. "Do you need someone to walk you home?"
"I can and I will, Temari." Naru promises with a nod. "He's been busy, but I'll let him know you're thinking of him." She might leave off the heart-eyes, but possibly not. Depends on the moment.
"I should be getting going too." Naru agrees to Kukai's comments about heading home. "Homework waits for noone, and I've plenty."
"Uh, if you see her it's probably as Griselda." Hoshi admits a little bit awkwardly, "She's ... uhm. In a sense she's Prism Princess Grey, but she's really strong." Then she adds, a little bit carefully. "If it wasn't obvious, I'm Prism Princess Yellow..." Yeah she's saying Princess, not Keeper. Why? Who knows. This may well be news to Kukai.
She glances to Naru, "Well you were there, weren't you?" She asks, seeming a little confused. "There was that stupid bird that took her away... and her house is now clouded in thick darkness, so..." She sighs, and reaches out for Naru's hand, "I don't think I could come up with excuses that won't get me into trouble, but I wouldn't mind some company on the way."
"Thank you, Naru-chan!" Nice and calm is Temari!
Nadeshiko's eye is twitching. It's a good thing this gathering is coming to a close.
"I'll remember that, Hoshi-chan. Tell people I know. Nice seeing you again, Naru-chan, Alexis-kun. Temari, come help me beat up my boyfriend."
Sure, she's stalking after Kukai with murderous intent in her eyes, but Temari's swooning state is probably too telling of how very little murdered Kukai will be.
In fact, as they exit the door, anyone left could probably hear a dreamy 'Kunzite-sama~!" from the small girl.