It is shortly after Machi Ono has arrived. The secretive magical bunker underneath the coffee shop is a pretty boring place, but it's safe. And there's food. And a computer. And a TV. And a few rooms setup like this. It isn't quite home but it's comfortable for what it is- and it's better than the street and/or making deals with other groups for protection at the moment until Machi Ono figures out what she's doing.
The Coffee Shop hasn't opened yet. It's opening in a week or so. Everything is still being setup and Haruna is running herself ragged trying to get the place setup and up and running and all sorts of stuff like that.
There's no actual prepared products in yet. Stuff like coffee keeps for a while and that's already stocked.
Haruna is taking a break, softly seated in a stool and staring out toward's the beach a bit as she keeps her arms crossed. She owns the property from here to the waterline. That's a nice little chunk of beach. She's thinking concert parties in the summer.
That'd attract people. Yeah... Yeah! She thinks.
Machi Ono finds it exciting that there's a secret bunker in the first place. We just mostly did stuff in Jun's house! Until it got set on fire. We lost a lot of good photos...
Well, it would be more exciting if it wasn't being something she would use out of necessity, or if she had the ability to contemplate her possibilities for the future beyond the immediate. That's not what she's been doing: since arriving here, Machi has been spending most of her time sessile, eating, sleeping and definitely not talking much while she just recuperates her magical energy.
She is, as she mostly was, sleeping on a sofa right now, wearing a white dress.
Right up until... now. Crash.
Haruna may hear the sound of it, followed by someone moving around quickly downstairs.
Haruna Kurosawa is imaging this big awesome beach party but everyone crashes to the ground at once as the crash below wakes her from her reverie as she 'huhs?' a bit and blinks. She walks to the clearly labeled 'BROOM CLOSET'. In Big bold black text on a white label- as if to insituate it couldn't possibly be anything else, and she steps inside to...
Sort of end in the bunker below part. It is a sassy entrance. But it works to keep it hidden.
She sort of walks along and peeks into the main little meeting area where the couch is.
"Hey?" she asks.
"Everything okay down here?" she asks.
"Not messing up stuff I hope!" she says. "I just bought this stufffff." she complains a little.
"But seriously." she says. "Hello?"
The kind of entrance you'd see on a 70s cartoon. Remember the one about that janitor who became a kung-fu dog? I mean, he was a janitor dog. He wasn't a normal janitor person who became a kung-fu dog, that's mixing your concepts. Why make one cartoon when you could make two? That's the Hannah-Barbara way.
Meanwhile, there's nobody... down... stairs? If Haruna looks down there, there will be a strange lack of Machi, even in her couch-groove she's been occupying for a while now. The silence that progresses onward causes Haruna to ask more questions, which still get no answers...
And then Machi's glasses fall onto her, apparently from above.
If she looks up, that's when she'll see where Machi is- clinging to the roof in a corner just above her.
"Kyaaah! Things were working just fine up until that! Hey, pretend you didn't just see that! I'll establish the element of surprise again!"
Haruna Kurosawa eyes scan the room. Hrmmmm. No Machi. Is everything okay. She's about to go search the rooms when glasses bonk her on the head. "Ow!" she says as they clatter to the ground. She looks up and frowns. "Why are you up on the ceiling." she asks as she leans down to the pickup the glasses.
"Feeling better?" she asks. "I belive it's important to give people time to come out on thier own time. Lord knows when I was in a similar situation last year I needed a bunch of time to myself to sort my head out." she says quietly.
"How bad is your vision without these?" she asks.
The expression that the Machi clinging to the wall gives to Haruna is kind of blank. Yes, she's still clinging to the wall, having not moved much of anything since Haruna saw her. However, she does begin to develop a petulant expression as Haruna seemingly refuses to look away.
Eventually, she realizes it's not going to work, and skids down off of the wall to a standing position.
She takes the glasses if they're offered.
"Huh? Hey, I don't need 'em!" she insists, crossing her arms and sniffing. "I didn't even know I was wearing them, that's why they fell off!"
It is interesting to note that she definitely didn't have them when she was the Ace of Clubs.
Something seems a little off about Machi, though.
Haruna Kurosawa gently breathes on the glasses, fogs them up, and uses the bottom of her T-shirt to wash them off. She hands them back, or tries to at least.
"What were you trying to do anyways?" she asks. "Do you need Ninja tips?" she asks. "I had a card for that." she insists.
"Are you okay?" she asks. "Do you need something to eat or drink?" she asks as she head tilts a bit. She walks over to said fridge set in the corner as she opens it and sticks her head in.
"Ugh I need to.. actually stock things besides sandwhich meats in here." she says.
Haruna Kurosawa gently breathes on the glasses, fogs them up, and uses the bottom of her T-shirt to wash them off. She hands them back, or tries to at least.
"What were you trying to do anyways?" she asks. "Do you need Ninja tips?" she asks. "I had a card for that." she insists.
She does smile a bit. "You seem to be doing better though." she says. "Not laying down forever it seems. Do you need something to eat or drink?" she asks as she head tilts a bit. She walks over to said fridge set in the corner as she opens it and sticks her head in.
"Ugh I need to.. actually stock things besides sandwhich meats in here." she says.
"Well, what kind of thing would you do, under the circumstances?" Machi asks, leaning forward. She doesn't even say 'thank you' for the glasses shining, how rude. She steps away, and begins to pace in a small arc around Haruna, as if examining her.
"I woke up and I heard you upstairs, right, right? So the /plan/ was to sneak up on you and interrogate you and make sure you knew not to mess with me. Because that's the most important thing, right? It's important to make sure who's on top, right, right?"
Pause to imagine Machi literally rappelling down on Haruna from above, literally 'on top'.
Regardless, there's something very disarming about Haruna, as she goes over to the fridge and doesn't seem perturbed at all. She's clearly a master of her craft.
And Machi's stomach is growling since she hasn't eaten since ten hours ago. "Heyyy... you're not even taking me seriously, are you? Who are you anyway?"
Haruna Kurosawa crafts a ham and cheese sandwhich. She gently walks back over and offers it to Machi. She blinks.
"Uh?" she asks. "Haruna Kurosawa?" she asks. "We met the other day when you were truding back and you were talking about cards and your friends. So I brought you back here to rest." she says.
"You seem to be doing much better. We're kinda in a place under my coffee shop. For wayward magical girls and boys to go." she says.
"I uh."
"Take it you don't remember any of that though?" she asks as she grumbles because of course Machi doesn't. Why are all these people forgetting her lately!? ;_:
The situation is very strange. Machi is clearly not all there, and potentially perturbed by the situation, but she's only too happy to examine the individual pieces of the sandwhich she's offered, raising the piece of bread as if peeking underneath a sheet.
She listens, and examines what's underneath the ham, and then listens some more, and then examines what's under the cheese (which is nothing). "Well, yeah, duh," she says, now swinging her feet as she sits down on a chair or a stool or something.
Cut again away to a chibified version of downstairs. Machi is walking around, looking in cupboards, drinking water and otherwise behaving much like a sloth does, but in a thought bubble constantly hanging off of her head the additional chibi-Machi just spends the entire time sleeping.
"Because I've been asleep the whole time, haven't I? I needed a lot of time to sleep!" she crows. "And Machi's still asleep, so I can't remember anything she remembers until she wakes up-"
"Kyaaah!" wave wave hands. "Oi, forget I said that! Forget you heard any of that!"
There's a pause, and Machi fractionally opens her eyes more.
Then she yawns, her eyes half-close again, and she notices she has a sandwich in front of her.
"Itadakimasu, thank-you-Haruna," says the far more placid voice Haruna probably remembers better.
Haruna Kurosawa blinks a bit. "Uhhh huh. Well I can't help you if you're not gonna tell me the whole story about whatcha mean." she says. "But at the same time it's your own personal bussiness. Just as long as it doesn't make you a danger to anyone else I might bring down here." she says.
"But it sounds like you have two people up in there." she says giving a playful tap tap to Machi's head.
"And you're welcome! Enjoy." she says.
"The coffee shop upstairs is opening in a couple of days." she says.
"But it shouldn't get too loud down here." she says. "and I'll be offering work days if you wanna work for pocket money. I know you said something about not being able to go home? So. Just. You know, putting that out there." she smiles.
There's a pause, as Machi, or presumably the multiple personality entities, try to get a better grasp on the situation now both of them are 'awake'. This goes largely uncommented on as she looks at her sandwich, until she eventually picks it up and begins to eat it.
"Hmmm."
"Okay, so," she continues, that is to say the milder 'she'.
"Basically, yes. I was... too tired to mention it," continues to eat, "But I am Machi, and my more hot-tempered sister is the Spider. ...the same one as the card I showed you. It used to be that the sealing was never done properly and she would take over my body, but since then we've got so used to one another that we're much happier this way. Except when she's frightfully rude!"
Machi presses one finger against her forehead. "Hey, but she could have been a kidnapper! Or a spy! Or a spy-kidnapper!"
Silence pulls back in as Machi finishes breakfast.
"That's good to hear," she says after Haruna gives her the news. "I'm looking forward to seeing this place full of people. Although someone might not be allowed out in public as much if they keep being a nuisance to you." "Hey, I said I was sorry!" "No you didn't." "grrrflmsory."
Machi looks thoughtful. "Ah... working here might be nice. I feel like I might like to spend a lot of time around here."
Haruna Kurosawa nods. "Whelp! Just fill out one of the sheets. There's another girl, Sakura Kinomoto, working too. She's younger, so she'll need help handling hot drinks and what not. She can't handle them on her own. Um. The guy with the white hair around is Corvus. Corvus is actually a seagull! He's my partner." she says.
"Right. I'm. Cure Gull! Pretty Cure." she says with a grin. "But that's not right now." she says.
"Well as long as you're not driving away customers, it'll be fine." she says as she waves a hand off.
"Also don't do the ceiling crawly thing in the main area." she helpfully suggests.
"Sakura... oh!" Machi says. "Is that the girl I met with you as well?"
She starts to think. She hopes she won't have to explain too much to Haruna about her family. The Onos were a very hands-off family at the best of times. Considering she had recently disappeared for more than a month, several months depending on how that weird dusk zone time-dilation sort of thing worked...
Machi doesn't really want to think about it.
And so she hasn't.
She probably will eventually, possibly in a matter of days, but right now she's got breakfast to think about.
Well, breakfast and a change of clothes. Wait, she doesn't own a change of clothes and oh dear now she's thinking about it. Quick, think of something else.
"Gulls don't eat bugs, do they? No, not as far as I know. I think they just kinda eat whatever people who've been told not to feed them feed them."
Haruna Kurosawa isn't exactly going to talk about her family either. She is sort of sitting there awkwardly for a moment before she says. "Right... Um..." she sort of digs into her pocket and pulls out one of those Prepaid Gift Cards. "Thats... some money! On there." she says. "I kinda have a couple of those pre-setup. Because stuff." she says.
"And a friend helps me with that." she says with a series of matter of fact nods. "It's not a lot, but I figure you probably need. Things. I mean. Unless you keep things. Elsewhere." she says.
Awkward smile.
"Huh? Oh. Uh Corvus likes french fries. A lot." she insists. "So French Fries." she insists.
Machi Ono has actually been eating her sandwich really slowly, because it's impolite to talk with your mouth full, but on the other hand we've been talking a lot! So the more she talks the less she can eat. Also she realizes that a lot of the talking she was just doing there was mostly talking ... to... herself, which she remembers she can't really /do/ very much now because these other people aren't going to be used to you do it, and as such she suddenly feels very embarrassed. *o_o*
"A-ah! Haruna, I c-can't... well, I guess I really need it, so thank you! I'll pay you back as soon as I can? I mean I guess y-you'll be paying me and then I'll be paying you back, so... but..."
She just holds the card and covers her mouth with it and looks awkward.
"I'm going to need to figure some things out," she says quietly from behind the card.