For once, Persephone hadn't slept in so late that the noon bell of the local church would have been her alarm clock. A handful of days had gone by since her acquisition of the materials needed for Hikari's present, and she'd been pretty-well stuck at that time; it was going to be several days before she would see the shipment of biomech plasma fuel necessary to get the Skyrider airborne again, and she couldn't go see Mollianne, the siren necessary for the next step in her plan, in Viorar without it. She'd spent the days piddling around and angsting about the day that was now upon her, trying to figure out what it actually meant to 'hang out with a friend,' as though the concept was just completely alien to her. Which, maybe it was, for someone with minimal social skills as she.

In the end, she wasn't about to change things around so much as to pretend to be a different person, but through attempts to try and at least acknowledge that she knew this was important (wasn't it..?), she did her hair, and that took the better part of her morning. Splitting it down the middle and under a curtain of occasional S- and F-bombs from bouts of frustration, she spent a meticulous few hours braiding both sides and tying them off with a bright yellow bauble at each tip. Despite the aggravation involved with such a task, she was pleased with the result and decided it had been worth it, but hoped she wouldn't have to put herself in this position too often.

She glanced at the clock, fifteen minutes before 11:00 in the morning, and dressed the rest of the way, black and yellow in her traditional style, not unlike a bumblebee. The weight of her hair threw her off a little bit in how separated it was, but it was a big enough deal to be worth it; as she put on her boots, she glanced aside and saw the two scroll cases she'd disregarded and forgot about from earlier in the week, and made a mental note to at least look at them, later, before what would likely be the end result of her just tossing them in the trash. Rude, certainly, but when did Persephone really care that much about other people's opinions, anyway?

Closing the door behind her, the stepped out into the morning sun, a fairly-warm and bright day that, hopefully, promised a beneficial time under the uncertainty of not actually knowing what was in store for her, from that moment forward. She and Hikari had agreed to meet outside the 9th National Bank, at the intersection of Main and Kohryuu, and so that was exactly where she'd go.

In the days that had followed since her initial ventures, Shrike had more-or-less cleaned itself up of the mess that Deim had (inadvertently?) caused, with most windows being replaced, most cars being fixed, and most structural integrity having been regained. Persephone found herself occasionally looking from building to building as she made her way southward down Main Street, not entirely invested in anything, but curious for her own part on the residual aftermath of the android super-citizen-cop's destructive tantrum. She didn't believe that she had any emotional attachments to the city as one who'd lived here her whole life, but was glad that cleanup had progressed smoothly, telling herself that it provided less of a problem for herself if she'd had need of any businesses or services at some point that would have otherwise-been shut down as a result of repair and cleanup. The thought, actually, of having to tell Hikari that they'd need to cancel their plans for today as a result of what had happened earlier in the week gave her pause, whereupon she also realized that maybe part of it had been her fault for not keeping the F-bombs under wraps.

Eventually she came to the intersection of Main and Kohryuu, finding herself in a similar situation of waiting on the crosswalk light to turn in her favor and allow (legal) passage across the street amidst traffic. She lifted a hand up lightly as she waited, testing one of her braids to ensure that it was still in place and had not come undone, but nothing had changed since she left the house a scant six minutes prior, and her anxiety was obviously playing itself out as she'd figured it might. She waited, then, the bright yellow baubles at the tips of her braids clicking together faintly as she withdrew her hand from her braid and let it fall back into place alongside the other one. Hopefully she wouldn't make too much of an ass of herself, today.

Exiting a hardware store loaded with large, brown bags to the point she was all but hidden behind them, Deim effortlessly joined the ongoing foot traffic, despite her 'sight' technically being obstructed. Her superior sensors meant she was in little danger of collision herself, and her reflexes allowed her to easily compensate where necisary as she moved past the intersection, her stature meaning she was all but invisible in the crowd, long green hair trailing behind her like a banner in the speed of her passage. For once the need for supplies had not been her or her siblings fault, but one of the students being somewhat overzealous, thus necisitating more nails, paints and so forth.

The changing of the light from an orange stop-hand to a white crossing-person took Persephone momentarily out of her anxiety-driven thoughts, and as she went to put one foot in front of the other and begin walking anew, she happened to glance over... and then stopped, foot still in mid-aid for about half a second before she placed it back on solid ground. She did, in fact, not cross the street in that moment, and merely stood there with a small frown on her face, wondering to herself why this familiar person wasn't locked up somewhere in a lab for maintenance or something. She knew that Shrike takes all kinds, but come on, man. Fortunately, she didn't speak of it, much as though she'd have liked to; the last thing she wanted was any possibility of screwing the day up when Hikari was looking forward to it, and she'd swallow her pride (and her extensive vocabulary) for that sake, if nothing else.

Unconcernedly of any internal dilemmas, Deim merely moved on, lost in the foot traffic, but upon being 'pinged' as it were by a somewhat familiar energy signature, gave a polite 'good morrow miss Simmons' in passing before moving onward and away towards her still distant destination, absentmindedly going over the necisary repairs in her mind.

She waited, not wanting any part of that. The gesture was nice, but not today. Absolutely no risks were going to be taken, and she simply waited there even as the light changed back to allow the waiting motor traffic to continue as it were. The small frown remained on her face as she waited for one more round of traffic to clear, hoping that Hikari wasn't already there and waiting for her. No risks. None. Today was going to be a good day.
April 3, 2024

A second time around and the light shone once more in her favor, allowing Persephone to actually cross the street without interruption at that time. She'd waited until the green-haired one had completely left her sight before pressing forward, and ensuring that they weren't, actually, going in the same direction. It was unfortunate that she held onto grudges like that, possibly, but she also wanted absolutely zero chance of central Shrike getting nuked while she Hikari was there. She hastened herself swiftly across the road, and then waited for just a few more moments as the faced east from there, allowing that direction to cease its traffic flow before she could cross over and proceed apace toward the main business district at the heart of Shrike.

It was a little busier there than she would have liked, but then, anyone who wasn't at work was probably out and about, since it had turned out to be a pretty decent day. With the winter months mostly behind them, cabin fever was likely forcing people out of their homes so they could enjoy the city for what it was, and Persephone wasn't so naïve as to expect they'd have the place all to themselves. She slowed down a little bit as she drew closer to the main shopping area, scanning the immediate surrounding for any trace of Hikari. From what she could tell, her blonde companion hadn't shown up yet, and that was probably fine. Punctuality really wasn't that big of a deal.

Stopping next to a streetlight post, Persephone did one last quick scan before withdrawing her phone from the pocket of her jacket, glancing down at it to see if she'd missed any last-minute calls or messages. There were none, thankfully, so she at least could scratch off 'last minute cancellation' from her list of concerns.

I'm really thinking waaaaaay too hard about this damn thing. People go out and do shit like this all the time. It's not that big of a deal. Right?

Consequently, Persephone's phone just-so-happens to start ringing while she's busy giving herself more things to worry about than necessary. The vibration in her hands understandably startles her a bit, and she looked down to see that Hikari was calling. She frowned, giving one more quick glance to see if maybe she was being called because Hikari was already there somewhere and just couldn't find her, but like before, the area was devoid of any noticeable blonde girls with curly hair, and that probably meant that something had come up at the last minute. On the fence about whether she was happy that she no longer had to worry about it or upset that she worked herself up for what was inevitably going to be another disappointment, she tapped to answer and held the phone up to her left ear. "Hello?" she said.

"Hey!" Hikari's voice came through on the other end, with no shortage of cheer. "Sorry about this, but I realized I had to make sure of something before I showed up. I'm trying out one of my dad's new devices and I don't want to land on anyone by accident." Her voice was hurried, almost like she was running late to somewhere and was giving a huge explanation all at once in order to not be interrupted before it all came out. "There's space next to you, wherever you're standing, right?"

Persephone was too confused to give a response right away, as her saiyan brain tried to process what she Hikari talking about. On the one hand, it didn't sound like she was canceling, but... "Are you... already here, somewhere?" she asked, brow furrowed. "I don't understand."

"Ah, not yet," Hikari said through the phone. "Mom wanted to put something in my hair at the last minute, and it's hard to tell her 'no,' sometimes. Sorry! But that was why I needed to call first, because I didn't think about this until last-minute. I'll be there super quick, I just need to make sure there's nobody standing next to you, first." The description seemed self-explanatory, but she didn't divulge what may have been some important aspect of her request, quite possibly for some surprise factor involved.

Persephone glanced aside at the light post she had been standing next to and, while still not quite understand what Hikari was going on about, stepped off to one side, so that there was quite literally nothing on any side of her. "Yeah, I think you're... good," she said, hesitantly. "But what--"

"Don't worry!" Hikari said, cutting Persephone off. "Give me just a second or two, and I'll be right there!" There was a short beep and a click, and then her voice was gone.

With a blank stare, Persephone lowered the phone from her ear and tilted her head to one side, wondering for a moment if she was about to be the victim of some kind of weird practical joke. With a sigh, she tucked the phone back into her coat pocket, taking another moment to look around while she waited for... something. She really wasn't much of the 'guessing games' type, and she tried not to be too annoyed that Hikari wouldn't just tell her what was going on.

Persephone wouldn't have to wait too long, though, because within the next twenty seconds or so, a five-foot-nine-inch-tall column of soft blue light suddenly manifested about a foot off to her right side, humming and buzzing with some kind of activity for a moment before the column rescinded and took on, at first, a generalized and then more-distinct shape. The light fades after a couple seconds, leaving a woman of that exact height standing there in its wake, bearing the biggest self-approving grin anyone could ever hope to see.

She didn't doll up too much, though, perhaps not wanting to feel like she was putting a burden on Persephone to do the same, since she didn't exactly have much experience in this whole 'hanging out' thing, either, outside of being with her mom out in public. Eschewing the normal gown-style dress that she's typically known for wearing, Hikari instead opted for a sky-blue sweater that hung off the side of her right shoulder (which meant that either the neckhole was way too big, or it was designed that way) and faded gray jeans that looked a little thin in the knees, along with the expensive-looking boots that she seemed to like so much. There's just a bit of blue eyeshadow going on, as well, and her curls are mostly-untouched, with the exception of a twisted strand up over her right temple that appears to have been ironed down and then wrapped in a black ribbon to hold it in place, the end of which has a very small (how did anyone tie that?) bow affixed to it. It was all different, but didn't step too far outside the realm of her own personal charm, she didn't think.

She grins her grin up at persephone, holding her hands together at her stomach in the standard 'Hikari' pose. "Surprise!" she said. "It's me!"

Persephone might have been more surprised, actually, if she hadn't been steeling herself to expect something to happen. It takes her a second or two to wrap her head around this manner of arrival, though, and there's at least a small handful of questions forming a line on the end of her tongue, all waiting their turn to come out and present themselves to Hikari's broadly-grinning mug. Still, she was... glad to see her, before anything else. "I don't know what I was expecting," she said, "but I don't think it was that. How did you know where I even was?"

"Oh!" Hikari oh'd, her grin only slipping a little bit. She knew better than to expect a hug or something, since this was Persephone, and that was okay. "I probably should have asked, first, but my dad's been working on a phone application that lets a person go right to wherever any of their contacts are." She looks super pleased with herself. "I'm the first one that got to test it out, and it looks like he got most of the bugs worked out!"

The dumbfounded look that Persephone returned probably didn't help anything that Hikari might have been going for, but it was all she had to offer. "Wait, hang on," she said, trying to discern something from that grin, but coming up short. "How does that work? Phones don't..." she trailed off, raising an eyebrow. "...do they?"

If there was room on her face, Hikari's grin would've gotten bigger, but as such it had to stay where it was. "There's a lot more to it than just having a smartphone to use the application with," she explained. "There's a chip that has to be installed on the 'initiator' phone, and that's what holds the spell for the application to activate. It basically tracks your contact's phone's location, then places the transfer point about two feet in any one of the four cardinal directions around them, at the initiator's choice." She held up a finger, demonstratively. "But it's a two-way street, so that there's not as big a fear about privacy concerns. If you didn't have me in your contacts list, too, it wouldn't have worked! That makes me happy, too, because it means you added me! Dad is still working on it before it can be released to the public, though, since there's a lot that could go wrong with it. It's gotta be perfect, first."

In all fairness, Persephone wanted to be excited for Hikari because it did seem like a big deal and, in all reality and tech-savviness that she didn't have aside, it was a pretty amazing concept to be able to instantly teleport across the Cleft just by mashing on a phone app. But that concept seemed really... dangerous? "You know me well enough to probably know this question was coming," she said, "but what if it hadn't worked?"

Her grin didn't falter, like the prospect was absolutely not an issue. "Who knows?" she said, with frustrating cheer. "I could have ended up in outer space somewhere, for all I know. And it can be really dangerous on the receiving end, too, which is why I made absolutely sure that there was nobody else around before I came in. I have no idea what would've happened if I'd landed in a spot where someone was already standing. There's only so many failsafes that can be applied to this sort of thing, but my dad's always working on ways to make them better. It's what Fukawa Industries is all about!" An absolute mascot, this one.

It took a bit of restraint on Hikari's part not to tell Hikari how fucked-up that sounded. "That sounds pretty irresponsible, honestly," she said. "Risking your life just so we could hang out for a few hours today doesn't seem really worth it. I could have just met you over by Viorar or something." This was, actually, a bold lie on Persephone's part, because the biomech plasma had, actually, not come in yet. It should've been there the day before, but something must have gotten delayed somewhere. She was planning to go down there and throw some choice words around if it didn't show up by tomorrow.

Her grin presented a bit of coyness to it, but just a bit. "Maybe it was worth it," she said, dismissively. "But I'm here, now, so that's what matters!" She reaches around and pretty much gives herself a pat on the butt, likely checking to make sure her wallet is still where she put it. "It's actually been a pretty long time since I've been here outside of business trips with my dad, so I'm kind of excited. Aaaaand I might have some ulterior motives, too. Dad asked if I could pick up something for him from Nakajima that's been on hold for a few months, since he hasn't had time to get down here between work and other things. So we get to hang out and run errands!"

Of course Hikari would be someone to get excited about running errands. Why was she even surprised? Her earlier comment made Persephone pause for thought, though, but she brushed it off as reading too much on things that weren't there. "Yeah, I guess so," she said. "But so, like, I'm not gonna try and pretend I know what I'm doing in any of this, either. When I go do things like... you know, shopping and stuff, I'm pretty much in and out. I don't... like, mind hanging out, but you're not stupid and you know what kind of person I am, Hikari. It's all pretty alien to me." It was nice, actually, to feel comfortable enough to just spit it all out and not worry about being judged, and that was probably her favorite part about Hikari. Even if she didn't understand something, she understood.

Of course, this also meant that Persephone could ask about the plasma a bit sooner than she planned, too, if they were going to Nakajima anyway. So it seemed like it worked out. Maybe just with less choice words, if Hikari's ears were around.

"Oh, I'm actually okay with that!" Hikari said, absolutely without judgment. "See, since it's been a while, I was kind of hoping you'd be okay with letting me drag you around instead of vice-versa. It'll be fun to explore the city and see what all has changed since I used to live here." In that sudden moment, though, Hikari's expression suddenly faltered, and she tried to play it off by just-barely averting her gaze from Persephone to something slightly off to one side, so it didn't seem too obvious. "Are you okay with that, Sephie?"

She really, honestly was not one for nicknames, but apparently everyone and their second cousin had one for her, so she wasn't going to just choose one person to harp on about it and not the others. Hikari was probably at the bottom of that list, anyway. That being said, as hypervigilant as she was, Hikari's shift in demeanor didn't escape her notice, but she also had secrets she, herself, was keeping, and decided that maybe she would just play it off to keep speculation off of certain other things she had going on. Plus, knowing she might be able to glean a bit more knowledge out of certain things was encouraging. "You used to live here?" she asked, putting on a pretty good 'I had no idea' face. "That's funny, I've lived here my whole life and I never ran into you that I knew of. But, uh, yeah, I don't mind. We can go anywhere you want, but depending on when you lived here, I don't think a whole lot's probably changed."

Her grin is still there, but it's decidedly-less obnoxious than it was before, for sure. "Okay!" she said. "So here's what I'm thinking." She shifts slightly, letting her green eyes look around the immediate surroundings while she talks. "It seems silly since we're already here, but I don't mind the walk, and it'll let me see how things have been since then. We'll go down to Nakajima, pick up the cells my dad needs, and then we'll come back up here and maybe do some window shopping and get something to eat. I had a light breakfast so I'm not too hungry right now, but a snack sounds like it might be good in a few hours or so." She returned her attention to Persephone. "Oh, and maybe one other place, too, if we have time. But we'll see. Is that okay with you?"

"Sure," she said, perhaps a bit more flippantly than intended and realizing that Hikari had completely blown off her question. Girl apparently knew when to shut the lid on her secrets when she wanted to, but that was fine. "I actually have something I gotta ask about down there, anyway, so Nakajima sounds as good a first stop as anywhere else." She actually hadn't eaten anything yet, herself, but she wasn't going to say anything that might steer Hikari away from her preferred course of exploration. This whole 'not thinking about herself first' thing was kind of a novel concept for Persephone, but she didn't exactly hate it that much, at least for the moment. "You remember where it is?"

Hikari smirked a little, feeling like she was being teased at that point. "Of course I do!" she said, glancing in said direction. "A place like that isn't just gonna up and move after being there as long as it has. Plus, I've been here a few times since then, like I said, just not in any capacity to actually look around. It was all business."

Persephone saw a second chance, then, and didn't hesitate to take it. She turns, then, and prepares to lead the way back toward the western intersection. "You say 'as long as it has' in a way that makes it sound like you were here for awhile," Persephone conversationalized. "Was it that long ago that you lived here?"

Hikari follows along just off to one side and behind, and since Persephone can't see her expression while she's out in front, she lets her grin drop a bit. "Kind of, yeah," she said, raising her eyes toward the streetlight at the intersection they're approaching. "But Nakajima is one of those places that you know isn't going anywhere, too. It has roots here, and they're pretty deep. I couldn't imagine what Shrike would be like if it weren't here."

Fuck, this girl was better than she ever would've thought. She sighed inwardly, but decided not to push her luck. "I guess that's true," she said, instead. "I don't think they have their fingers in quite as many things as Astraea Corp does, especially lately, but they're definitely one of the foundations of the city. City'd be a heck of a lot different without 'em." She stops at the crosswalk, which still has a little bit before they'd be allowd to cross back over.

She stops, too, but her attention refocuses elsewhere. And then she reaches forward and picks up one of those things that has her attention. "This is adorable!" she said, happily fondling one of Persephone's braids. "Did your dad do this? With how long your hair is, I bet it took a long time to tie them up, especially since there's two of them!"

She turns her head slightly, glancing back out of the corner of her eye but not able to see Hikari from that vantage point. It doesn't bother her, though. "Nah," she said. "That was all me. And yeah, it took a good hour or two. Things kept slipping when I was trying to hold them down, and I found myself wishing I had six hands instead of two, pretty much the whole time." The compliment felt good, though, and while she wouldn't admit it outright, it was kind of what she was hoping for, that made the effort worth it.

Her grin returned, but instead of letting go of one, she took hold of the other, holding them not unlike the rains of some redheaded steed. "If you can do something like this by yourself," she said, "I should let you do my hair, sometime. Curly hair isn't a lot of fun to work with, but mom likes to play around with mine sometimes and can be creative, on occasion." She click-clacks the plastic baubles together, not unlike a child enamored with a toy just because it makes noise. "I tried doing stuff with mom's hair, too, but it never comes out right. I don't have a lot of manual dexterity, I guess."

She... doesn't really know how to respond to that, and feels caught between two different fronts. The talk about Hikari's interaction with her mom was kind of gnawing at her, but she didn't want to be that bitch that told her to shut up because it was a sore subject without her knowing that, but alternately, Hikari was talking to and treating her like they had just been the best of friends for years; like, there was no hesitation or reservation in her voice or anything. Anyone else even getting close enough to touch her hair, let alone bouncing it around like some kind of jump-rope toy would have gotten an elbow in the gut faster than a hobo jumping on a silver piece in the gutter. It kind of... relaxed her, a little bit. Sorta.

But then the crossing light changed to white, and she started across, regardless of what Hikari was or wasn't doing back there. "Maybe," she said after a moment. "There's nothing wrong with your hair, though. I'm not gonna tell you how much of a pain long hair is to deal with, though. Might be more worth it if I was more into styling it than I am, but yeah."

She does eventually let Persephone's hair go, watching it fall back to where it was with the baubles bouncing against the back of her thighs. She actually was a little jealous about how long Persephone's hair was, but she could definitely understand what kind of patience it took to manage a mane like that. "You could always get it cut," she said, following across the street. "A pixie cut might look cute on you. And you might save a bunch in shampoo, too!"

That comment, unfortunately, dug in a little deeper than she wanted it to, and caused a frown to spread over her face, such that she stopped on the other side of the street. "My mom liked my hair long," she said, mostly-averting her eyes toward some spot down the road. "I keep it that way, for that reason."

All of her good cheer disappears in an instant. She might have been blonde, but she wasn't stupid enough to miss that vibe. "Oh," she said, also frowning. "I'm sorry, I didn't meant that." She had a feeling that she had a little more leeway with Persephone than most people probably did, given their interactions at the festival in the last year or so, but there were plenty of landmines she still had to watch out for, apparently.

"It's fine," she said. "We've talked about my mom before, you know how I get. It's not your fault." She pressed on toward the south, taking a breath and letting it out. It was fine; if she was going to let anything out to anyone, it might as well be Hikari. "Nakajima isn't too far out, we'll be there in just a few minutes, I bet."

Hikari kept her silence, still feeling a little self conscious about treading too far into dangerous territory, whether she had intended to or not. She followed Persephone along Main street toward the south, occasionally glancing off at random buildings and businesses along the way. It had been several years since she'd last wandered around the city for any reason except specific business-dealings, but it all pretty-much did look about the same, just as Persephone had stated. She stopped, though, in front of one particularly large building with a chain-link fence around the front, tilting her head slightly.

If she hadn't been heavily conscious of Hikari's presence this whole time (for both good and maybe-not-so-good reasons), she'd probably have kept right on going and not even noticed until she got to Nakajima and realized Hikari wasn't there with her. Instead, she also stops, albeit a few steps further down the street past the building. She looks up toward what has Hikari's attention for a moment before retreating a few paces. "What's up?" she asked, but as soon as it dawns on her what his building is, she puts the pieces together pretty easily. "Was that your elementary school?"

She looks surprised, raising an eyebrow slightly at her orange-haired friend. "That's pretty perceptive," she said. "I didn't even actually tell you how long ago I'd lived here. I could've gone to any other schools in any other cities or towns.

She allowed only a faint smirk to grace her lips. "Your eyes aren't exactly hiding anything," she said, half-bluffing because of what she actually knew but wasn't exactly going to tell. "It's easy to put two and two together when you stop and think about it. Why else would you stop in front of a schoolyard, of all places, at your age?"

"'At your age'?" Hikari echoed with a smirk of her own. But instead of following up on that, she returned her eyes to the tall building, which wasn't actually in session today and, as such, was devoid of any activity, children or otherwise. "Did you go there, too, Sephie?"

She's silent for a moment, turning away from both Hikari and the school. "Yeah," she said. "Hated every day of it, too." She starts walking again, apparently without concern of whether Hikari was following at that point or not.

She looks sad as Persephone walks off, and gives the school one last glance before hurrying back along to keep up. She wondered how the two of them had missed each other during the few years they would have had to've been attending at the same time, even if they were probably a few years apart, but she wasn't going to say anything on what was apparently another sore subject. She knows she would definitely have remembered a girl with hair like Persephone's, at any point she'd have seen her before.

She, unfortunately, doesn't have a whole lot more random banter to offer for pretty much the rest of the trip to Nakajima Robotics, but she isn't exactly being huffy or power-walking, for Hikari's sake. The rest of the trip isn't beyond what she predicted, and she led Hikari onto that side road off of Main, with Nakajima pretty much being the only building of any importance toward the far end. She does, however, cast a side glance down that one alleyway as she walks past, but doesn't say anything of it as she continues on toward the factory at the other end.

Not unlike a little pet in tow, Hikari follows along obediently, still occasionally diverting her attention to the odd building here or there along the way. Her expression has leveled out into something fairly neutral, and her boots crunch through the gravel of the back street where Nakajima resides, just the same as Persephone's.

She stops just outside the building's perimeter, noticing that it seemed like most of the glasswork repairs had since been completed from that dumb android's sonic meltdown, at least. Probably set them back a few gold, though, and that's not even counting what may have been damaged inside. "What was it your dad needed, anyway?" she asks, looking back at Hikari.

"Oh," she said, also stopping nearby. "Just some power cells. You can pretty much get them anywhere, but my dad gets them in bulk from here because he gets a discount over just grabbing a pack at a time from, say, a shopping center." She smiles. "He placed an order a few months ago, actually, but never got down here to pick them up, so they've just been holding them since then. He's just been picking them up as needed in the meantime from Viorar, but he saw the chance for me to grab them since I was going to Shrike, and I said I'd do it."

"Ah," she said. "They're pretty much just batteries, right?"

"Sorta," she said, a little thoughtfully as she glanced past Persephone at the robot factory. "They last a bit longer and they have a higher charge, so they're ideal for devices that have a higher power output than normal things that need regular batteries. Since my dad's business works with concepts that factor in magical functionality with technology, they end up using a lot more 'juice' than regular devices, so normal batteries won't cut it. Or, actually, they will, but only if you want to use it for about five minutes before it dies." She can't help but grin, as though she'd witnessed this firsthand.

"Oh, that makes sense," she said, frowning a little bit as something crosses her mind. "Hey, Hikari, is..." she stops, not really sure if she should actually be breaching this topic, but the curiosity is a bit too strong to hold back. "Is your dad worried about Astraea Corp, at all?"

Her grin fades a little bit, but not completely. "Maybe a little bit," she said. "Dahlia's been brought up a couple of times, but it's not a huge concern, I don't think. At least, that's not the feeling I get around the company when I'm there. A corporation like that is always something you want to be watching pretty carefully, though, considering how quickly it sprang up." She tilts her head a little bit. "Why?"

Her frown remains as she holds her silence for a moment, then shakes her head. "I just wondered. They've been giving my dad an eternal headache, apparently, and I was just wondering if they got their claws into your dad's business, too. Considering the kind of things your dad makes, it's a little surprising to me that they don't. Yet, anyway."

Her eyelids close just a little ways as Hikari takes on sort of a cocky air. "You're not wrong," she admitted. "And like I said, it is a concern, just not a big one, at this time. My dad's company operates a little differently than most businesses, and I think that's part of the reason he's as successful as he is." She looks at Persephone fully, clasping her hands together in a familiar pose. "Most businesses are just out to make sure they stay on top, and they do it through their own means, with their own practices, and for themselves. Fukawa Industries is all about the partnerships and the teamwork with other companies that have investments in it. The Festival of Lights, for example, is a lot more than most people will ever see it as, since they're just there to have fun and take a break for a week. Which is fine! That's absolutely its purpose, to one end." Her grin returns in full. "But when you pay out of your own pocket for the entire Cleft to basically take a week off and have fun, people notice, and they appreciate it. It was probably a gamble because it could have backfired tremendously if nobody was interested and it didn't catch on, but Fukawa Industries has so many allies at this point that, if you think of them as benefactors, it's barely even my dad's company at this point. But it keeps the business safe, and it keeps them safe. Think of it like a country that makes allies out of every country on all sides of it; when someone outside those countries decides to attack that first country, suddenly they have a much bigger problem than just that one country's army to deal with. It's kind of the same premise."

She winces inside at hearing this explanation, since what little she knew about her dad's company was very much the opposite; her dad had definitely shown shades of power mongering at one point in time, and he'd even mentioned this to her a few days ago, so it might not have been all that surprising that he was having trouble now. She didn't know enough about the company or how her dad did business to know if he had any sort of protection against Astraea's business practices, but given her dad's constant complaints, she assumed it was unlikely. "It sounds like your dad knows his stuff," she said, a bit resignedly. "And, uh, so do you, apparently. I'm kind of surprised you wear a dress instead of a suit, after hearing that come out of you."

She laughs, a peal of girlish giggles. "You know, you're not the first person to say that to me," she said. "Do you really think I'd look better in a suit? Because I really don't see the appeal, myself."

"Pfft, nah," she said, unable to keep from grinning a bit, herself. "You can't really be a mascot if you're wearing a stuffy suit all the time, huh?"

She lets out a sigh. "The 'mascot' title is, itself a little stuffy, if I can be honest," she said. "I don't mind helping my dad, and I'm very happy to tag along and learn the ways and means of the company, because I'm sure he expects to hand the reins over to me at some point, when he's ready to retire. It's a little daunting to consider, honestly. My mom's invested in it, too, but she helps out from home, mostly. You could say that she and I are like my dad's 'business strategists,' and we do things like product testing and such, too. You saw that second house where I live, which he lets others use if he needs prolonged testing on anything large in scale or scope, for a longer period of time. But the top-secret stuff he has mom and I test, that way he can keep it as under-wraps as possible with minimal risk to it being leaked before it is ready."

She offers a nod. "Like I said," Persephone repeats, "it sounds like he knows his stuff."

"Yup!" Hikari chirps. "But hey, we can talk about my dad's business any time you want. Let's go get those cells so we can actually go do something fun."

"Fair enough," she said. She glanced over her shoulder, then turned around and headed inside, opting to (gasp!) use the front customer entrance this time, instead of the bay door like every other instance.

She follows suit, offering a shorthand glance at a few workers who were loading a few parts into a truck at said bay door

The lobby of Nakajima Robotics wasn't really anything to write home about, and the loud clanking of metal-on-metal wasn't as stifled as it probably could be, for a front room being so close to the workshop. But it was an industrial city with industrial practices, so that was just the name of the game, sometimes. Surprisingly, though, there was a man familiar to Persephone behind the counter at this time, and she was glad for it, since it would help speed up the process a bit for both of them. "Scott!" she called out, reaching back to make sure she held the door open for Hikari to step through behind her. She offered a short wave to make sure she got his attention.

She does indeed step through, but doesn't advance too far into the lobby, kind of standing off to one side as Persephone makes her announcement. She wasn't familiar with anyone, here, and was more than willing to let Persephone handle things as necessary.

The man named 'Scott' looks up as he is called, a bit of a beefy guy in his 40s with arms that definitely looked like they'd spent a few decades lifting heavy-ass machinery parts and equipment. Oh, and the hardhat. Can't forget the hardhat. "Oh, hey!" he said, familiarly. "Pretty sure I know why you're here, too. Unfortunately I got some bad news on that front."

She stops about halfway to the counter, a frown beginning to take shape. "I kinda don't like how quickly that came about," she said, warily. "If you know why I'm here, then what's the deal with the holdup?" She spared no expense in the almost-immediate agitation showing up on her face as a result of this news.

"Well," Scott started, rubbing the back of his neck. "In a few words, 'shipment problems.' Still trying to figure out what happened, but we only actually got half of what we ordered, and we're not sure what happened to the other half. And as garbage as this might sound, we couldn't really give up the half that we received, since we need it for our own ends. We're looking into it and I'm hoping to at least get some clarification on what the hell happened, but it might not be for a day or two, and then we won't know, until then, when we can expect to receive the other half." He shrugged, crossing his arms over his muscular chest. "Might wanna just assume it's going to be a few weeks or so."

That frown of hers turns into a right-good scowl, at that point. "A few weeks!?" she griped, raising her voice a bit more than she might have intended. "That's..." she stopped, realizing that now wasn't the best time for this. "Ugh. Okay... yeah, I get it." That was going to set her back a ways, and when she only had a couple months to put her plan together in the first place, that was a painful length of time to just sit around doing nothing. She was really, honestly upset. "Alright," she eventually said. "Just... you know, keep me updated, okay? We need that as soon as it comes in. Like, I'll come down here and pick it up myself, just to save the half-day it would take to bundle it up and send it to my house."

Hikari just kind of stands in the back, watching and listening, but not offering her piece at this time.

"Got it," Scott said. "We'll make sure you get it as soon as we do. Sorry about that, but you know how it is, sometimes." He glances past Persephone, noticing the other girl on the other side of the lobby. "Oh, she's cute," he said. "Didn't, uh, know that was your thing, Persephone." He keeps a straight face, but his tone probably implies that he might be joking. Maybe.

Nope. She clears the distance between herself and the front counter, and the look on her face could not be more telling. "Scott, if you start that shit, I swear you will end up having to replace the glass on that front door a second time, because I will personally put your head through it, myself," she said, in a calm-but-very-much-not-controlled manner. The fact that she dropped an S-bomb doesn't even occur to her until after she's done with her threat, but she couldn't exactly take it back, at that point.

In spite of this, Hikari puts a hand over her mouth to hide a smirk, but doesn't say anything, still.

Scott, for his part, just chuckles, like he was in-no-way actually worried about where his head went. "Hey, relax," he said. "You'd be cute, too, if you could take a joke once in awhile. I know the shipment situation sucks, but if there's nothing we can do about it, you might as well not worry about it for now. Mark told me what's up, something about a jetbike or something? Did you need it that badly?"

She growls irritably, but doesn't press her irritation any further than that. "I kinda do, yeah," she said, still blatantly unhappy about the whole thing. "I'm kinda stuck here in Shrike until I get it, since the bike's not able to get off the ground without it. And I got places to be, with a bit of a timeframe on it." She hesitated a bit at that point, knowing whose ears were currently in the room, but she figured that vague details wouldn't hurt anything, and she could just play it off as unimportant later, if Hikari asked about it. "A couple weeks is... fine, I guess. Not really, but it'll have to be. I'll make it work."

"I mean," Scott said, "a couple weeks is, like, a 'worst case' scenario, you know? Very possible we could get it a good deal sooner than that. I just didn't want you to expect anything and then have that get dashed, too."

The little pokemon cut an odd figure as she moved through the streets of Shrike, for few of her kind wore clothes, though admittedly most that did were, like her Fighting types, and wore keidougi's when propriety required. Yet since taking up with her Big Sister she'd taken up some fashions and given she wasnt actually in the Dojo, she wore more casual wear, loose comfortable kung fu pants, with actual string ties at ankles and waist, and a pink top. And most importantly, over it all, a leather duster, a smaller scale replica her Sis had gifted to her, they matched! Smiling happily, she couldnt help but skip a few paces at the thought, regardless of the odd looks she got for it.

Shaking her head, to dismiss the thought, she eyed the building ahead. The inventor's guild had run out of the material she needed to repair poor Dummy, the Mu Ren Zhuang who'd crashed through one of the dojo's walls after this morning's student had..misjudged their grasp of Ki. Part of her felt proud that, hey, they were more advanced then they thought, mostly though she felt dismayed at the damages and having to cancel the rest of the day's lessons. Happily, the repairwork was simple enough, and Sis said she could fix Dummy too, but they'd need more exotic metals! Supposedly, Nakajima ought to be able to provide the materials aswell, and if not..well Sis'd just have to get them overseas from the Base, but poor Dummy would have to wait to get fixed.

Gathering the necisary psionic energies, she prepared to call out to the lobbyist, but frowned as much as her features allowed as she saw they were busy. Huffing silently, she entered the rest of the way into the lobby and took place next to the blond girl. Waiting impatiently for her turn. It was rude to just talk to people without their permission. Or atleast so some of the etiquitte lessons she'd found about psionic communication said. ~Boooooring~ she low-key broadcasted, the psychic equivalent of a teenager whispering to themselves.

Her eyes shifted slightly to one corner at the sound of someone else showing up, but not long enough to actually distract her at all. "Sure," she said, still not divesting herself fully of her annoyance. "Not like disappointment is anything new to me, anyway. But yeah, you know how to get ahold of me." Persephone turned to address Hikari, then, but her frown retained itself when she saw the new arrival in the lobby. Not really a 'what the fuck are you and why are you here' frown, but more of an 'ugh, more people' sort of frown. On the outset, though, she ignored the... whatever-it-was and looked toward Hikari. "Alright, your turn," she said.

She, herself, actually casts a side glance at the unique being and offered a small smile in spite of anything else, but didn't speak; she was simply waiting her turn and little else, and when Persephone called her over, she did, in fact, step on up to the counter.

Scott unfolded his arms as Hikari stepped up, and he gave a shorthand nod. "What'cha need, miss?" he asked, with no sense of formality whatsoever.

The Medicham for their part, wobbled back and forth on her feet. Out of boredom, she decided to try and talk to the angry-redhead, seeing the friendlier blond was busy. Figuring it was rude to just 'talk' though, she merely sent an auditory sensation of a phone ringing, rather then establish direct psionic contact. It was that, or she'd have to resort to Knocking, and that always seemed to lead to Knock-Knock jokes for some, inexplicable reason.

"Hi!" Hikari said, putting on her happy face. "I have a shipment that came in a few months ago that I need to pick up. My dad sends his apologies for the delay, but living so far away makes it tough. It should be under 'Fukawa'."

She seems like she's trying to just... avoid contact in general, with everyone, while waiting for Hikari to tend to her business. However, between the first commentary (whether it was intended for her or not, she didn't know how that weird-ass mindspeak shit worked) and this 'nudging,' she had her attention brought to the one who was obviously in need of some sort of personal gratification. "I have ears," she said. "If you wanna say something, just say something." Yeah, it was rude, but like, for her, it was not as rude as it could have been. There was some effort, at least, for Hikari's sake.

Rolling her big eyes, the Medicham broadcasted, but angled only towards the Redhead, her voice was perky, peppy and cheerfully, aswell as decidedly feminin ~Thats a bit hard to do without actual Vocal Cords silly.~

The name seems to ring a bell for Scott, and he blinks in surprise. "Well, now!" he said, a grin forming. "I recognize that name. You must be little Hikari, eh? Haven't been to the Festival of Lights in several years, you were a little bit smaller at that time, as I remember. Dad can't be bothered to come down and pick up his own shipment, eh?"

Tilting her head, the Medicham cheerfully continues ~Besides, most people prefer the Ringtone over Knock-Knock. Noone likes knock-knock jokes. Unless you do, I've had to listen to waaaaay too many myself though.~

She smiles, but it's not as big as it could be. "Not really that," she explained. "Fukawa Industries is just kind of taking up all of his time, and he travels so much that it's hard for him to get where he needs to be, when he needs to be there, outside of work." She casts an aside glance at Persephone, then back at the Medicham, before returning her attention to the man behind the counter. "I'm just hanging out in town today, so I figured I would stop in and pick it up for him."

Smiling as much as her limited features allowed, the Medicham sent a perky ~Hi!~ as a greeting when the blonde looked her way

Persephone is... just giving the blandest of all stares at this weird creature. The mindspeak-thing was really weird and if she had any sense of concern about her thoughts, she might be worried about how it actually worked and what her privacy concerns should be, but as someone who generally had very few fucks to give, to begin with, it didn't really occur to her that certain concerns should be considered. In all honesty, she doesn't actually know how she's supposed to respond. Why did she always have to get involved with all the fucking weirdos in Shrike? "No," she eventually said, "I'm not much for jokes, so I guess I appreciate the consideration." Her tone is less-than-thrilled, but not harsh or critical, at least.

Scott nods again. "Fair enough," he said. "Lemme go see what we got, and I'll be right back." And with that, he turned and went into a back room, down an adjoining hallway.

She turned halfway toward the direction of Persephone and the Medicham, then, as if to keep an eye on both of them, but retains her silence, even despite being greeted earlier. her smile fades slightly from earlier, growing into more of a thoughtful expression.

Sensing the concern, the Medicham huffed audibly, which was about as much vocalisation as she could make. ~You dont need to worry about me rootling around in your noggin you know, I could, but its considered bad ethics and really way more effort then its worth. Anyway, was just wondering why you seemed so upset when your..friend? Is all perky and friendly.~

The lids of her eyes come down fractionally, and she exhales through her nose. "Some people don't exactly have--" she abruptly cuts herself short, Hikari's presence nearby suddenly weighing on her that much more, at that moment. Her frown grows, frustration apparent within. "It's just who we are," she said, instead. "Things happen, people become certain ways because of those things, and then we just have to deal with it. Anyone who knows me would think it would be weird if I suddenly started prancing down the street with a basket full of fu--flipping daisies, anyway."

Hikari is unable to hold back a snort of laughter, bringing a hand to her mouth to hide the rest of it and the grin that follows. "Sorry!" she said, backing up a step. "I couldn't help it."

Winking at the blond with a cheerfull grin, or again, as much of one as her features allowed, the Medicham never the less continued to broadcast only to the redhead ~Actually, not what I meant, I mean, I can sense you're really not the most..~ Pausing for a moment to consider the right term, the Medicham continued ~Cheerfull disposition normally yeah, I meant more, on why're you still so upset when you got your friend around, specificly!'

The term 'friend' seemed to hit a spot that Persephone wasn't really super familiar, and by proxy, comfortable with. Like she hadn't made up her own mind on whether that term actually fit or not, even if Hikari seemed to think it did. "Maybe I'm just a robot," she said, with more than an ounce of cynicism. "Hard-coded to just be pissy all the time, regardless of the company I keep. Not a lot anyone would do about that, right?"

Scott then makes his grand re-entrance, carrying a short paper receipt. "Okay, so," he said, taking his place back behind the counter. "We do have it, and we can bring it out. But uh, it's..." he pauses, trying to figure out the wordage. "It's a big order. I'm not saying you'd need a truck or anything, but I don't think it's anything you're going to want to just be carrying around with you all day, if you're in from out-of-town."

Hikari looks like she's about to add something to the conversation, but in that moment, the burly man decided to come back, and she turns to see what he had to say about the order. At the conclusion of his admission, she only smiles at him, apparently with full understanding. "That's okay!" she said. "Bring it out anyway, I'll handle it." And that was all; no explanation or anything.

Scott looks a little concerned, but uh... the customer's always right, he guessed. "As you say, then," he said, with a small shrug. "Be right back." And he turned, again, to go and retrieve the order requested.

Shrugging, the Medicham seemed non-plussed. ~Eh, Big Sis'd say, that everyone can change. You'd just need a good Patch!~ Tilting her head, the Medicham broadcast to both blond and redhead for the next part, not that she actually said as much ~I got a few Capsule Corp capsules if you need to store something, only got my spare Bike in one, and I can just store it at home. Then you can keep up your day!~ at which point she threw up her hands, because, duh, spending time together was great, she'd love to spend all day with Big Sis if she had the chance.

Herself, she cast kind of a side-eye at Hikari, only partially-hearing what her conversation had been about and not really putting it all together with what limited attention she'd paid. As such, she chooses not to respond, to either of those sentiments.

A corner of her mouth twitches as the broadcast reaches her fully, and her expression flickers accordingly, as if the act of being spoken to in that way was a trigger for something else. However, whatever it was, she doesn't expound upon it, and manages to keep her smile going, all the same. "No worries," she said. "Being my dad's assistant tends to come with its own share of perks." She reaches into one of the front pockets of her jeans as she speaks. "I won't need to carry anything with us, I'll just drop it off in my room before we leave, then I'll hand it off to him from there when I get home." Again, no explanation, just matter-of-fact 'this is how it is and how I'll handle it' rhetoric. It was kind of impressive, at times, how the business side of Hikari poked through her otherwise-meek and cheerful demeanor that was most-often there.

Given the multitude of ways she herself could deal with the moving of troublesome burdens, the Medicham saw no real problem with said statement ~You sure? Alright, wouldnt want to fly it home inside the city anyway, people always look all funny atcha. And whats the point of it if you just push a hover bike, ya know.~ Rolling her eyes at the sheer sillyness of such a prospect, the Medicham resumed her idly rocking back and forth.

Once more, Scott returns to the front counter, and this time he's carrying a pretty heavy-looking double-palette of shrink-wrapped energy cells, which themselves simply look like nondescript batteries, but of a slightly-sleeker design. With a small 'oof,' he sets it down on the end of the counter. "There we go," he said. "And it's all paid for already, too, so it looks like you're all set." He looks between the double-stack of cells, and then Hikari again, still not certain of this. "Are you sure you're okay, there? Really don't want your old man coming after me because his daughter threw her back out trying to carry a bunch of stuff back home with her."

She didn't really have much of an idea as to what the Medicham was talking about, unfortunately, since she could neither fly nor owned a hover bike, but that's okay because Scott returned pretty quick, anyway. She brightened at the delivery, all smiles once more. "Oh, nope!" she said. "We're good! But I do have one more favor, if you could. Just a little one." She withdrew her hand from her pocket, holding some sort of small metal tab that looked a lot like the keyfob to a vehicle or garage door or something. She turned, her eyes focusing on a spot upon the counter on the other side of the stack of cells, and pressed a button on the tab; almost-immediately, and with a small crack of something splitting apart, a temporal gateway opens itself up, roughly half as tall as Hikari herself, and just as wide. "Okay," she said. "Do you see the dresser on the other side of that? Can you just move these through there, and set them on the dresser? That would be super helpful!"

She looks like she's about to say something to Hikari, herself, about being able to handle it and just dropping them off at her house for the time being until she left, but this assistance-offering is cut short with the sudden display of, of course, more tech. She was a Fukawa, why was this even surprising? So, instead, she again retains her peace and merely stands there, watching and curious, of course, but not vocal about it. Girl was loaded for bear in that department, it seemed.

Rolling her eyes as she sensed the blond's confusion, she sent a mental image to both of the Hover Bike, a sleek, matte-black vehicle that was truthfully little more then a lightweight armored frame to house the engine, aswell a partial experience of what flight on one felt like to the Blond. ~Fully flight capable, the name's just 'cause it hovers when idling. Heck, its hyper sonic too if you dont mind the energydrain on the power cores when you push the engines for it. But well, not a lot of people can pass the licensing to fly it so Sis never found a company interested in buying the Tech. Wouldnt believe how many flight-hours in the simulator I had to make before Sis had Sister make one my size. Also, it looks ridiculous when you push it along, since No Wheels!~ this was accompanied by a mental giggle.

Scott just kind of... stands there, for a second. He heard what Hikari asked of him, but his brain's not really comprehending what just happened when the portal opened up in front of him and the palette of cells. As he looks inside the gate, though, it gradually dawns on him. "Is that... your bedroom?" he asks, not even veiling the surprise one bit. "I mean, yeah, I can do that, but I gotta admit, this is kind of a lot to take in for someone like me who just lugs metal around all day." He scratches the side of his head, a good combination of amusement mixing in with the shock factor. "You kids come up with some of the darnedest things, nowadays."

Her frown dissipates from the exposition given by Scott, and it's obvious that she seems a little amused at the prospect, as well. "Feels like I'm watching one of those 'never leave home without it' kind of commercials from television," she said, offhandedly.

Persephone's comment snags her attention for a moment, and she gives her red-haired friend a side glance. However, in that glance is caught the visual of something significantly bothersome, like a problematic emotion that she had to stop and suppress before she could speak. She frowned briefly, but caught herself doing so, and immediately reinforced her expression an obviously-forced grin, instead. "It was a birthday present from my dad, a few years ago," she said, playing no words over whatever it was that she'd just gone through. "One of the handiest devices I've ever owned, for sure." She doesn't seem to indicate that she acknowledged anything that the Medicham had offered her in terms of mental envisionment or otherwise, and if she was being rude about it, it didn't seem to occur to her at that moment.

Tilting her head as she peered through the opening, the Medicham for their part, shrugged and otherwise refrained from commenting, Teleportation was no big fuss as far as she was concerned. Sure it wasnt a technique she Knew, but the basics atleast was familiar, point A, point B, skip intervening space, blah blah. Far more interesting to her was the emotional shift going on in the outwardly perky blond, but again, stupid psionic ethics meant she couldnt well prod and poke around to find out what was up with that. But, given the red-head was also a constant maelstrom of shifting emotions; they matched! Made sense to her why they were friends, she guessed.

Scott takes a moment to make sure he's aligning the palettes properly so he doesn't just, like... send a stack of cells crashing down in someone else's bedroom because he missed the mark. Carefully, he shifts one stack out and places it on something on the other side of the open gate, and then repeats the process with the second stack, and form his vantage point, it appears that all went well. He scratches the side of his head again, though, apparently not having expected to do anything quite this out-of-the-ordinary when he woke up this morning. "Hopefully that's all that needed," he said. "Guess you'll find out when you get home, huh?"

Hikari's swift change in demeanor isn't lost on Persephone, but it also isn't something she's going to call her out on; that's a dick move if ever there was one, with all the other people around. Good chance she'd probably forget about it later, too, but that's fine; it probably isn't worth bringing up. Like, you know, don't do unto others what you don't want them to do unto you, or some shit. She does, however, cast the briefest of glances back at the Medicham, though, seeming to link the shift in Hikari's expression with something it possibly did, but, again, she's not going to say anything.

Her mood improves noticeably as she watches Scott move the cells through the gate, and actually pulls herself halfway up onto the counter so that she can see into the gate to make sure they ended up in the right place. "Yeah!" she said, hopping back down. "That's perfect! Scott, was it? Thanks, I appreciate it!"

Sensing the suspicion from the red-head, the Medicham huffed in-audibly and once more narrow-band broadcast to her alone ~Dont look at me like that, she was definetly looking at You when her mind went all Weird.~ it wasnt said accusatory, or judgmental, more the psionic equivalent of an amused side-whisper.

Hikari brandishes the little metal tab again once she's content with the delivery status, and pushes something on one end of it. With a small hum and a light buzz, the edges of the portal close together and disappear entirely, leaving no trace of it ever having been there in the first place. "I guess we were kind of lucky that there was a spatial weakness right there," she said, but to whom, it isn't clear. "Otherwise we might've had to actually carry them somewhere else, since that was the only one in the room." She places the device back in her pocket and turns to Persephone, back to full-cheer mode. "Dad will be really happy about this, too. Brownie points!"

Scott just kind of looks at where the portal was, reaching out his hand into the air in the now-empty space and kind of... waving it around a bit. "Huh," he said, and if he heard Hikari's speech, he wasn't commenting on it. "Well, a job well done is a job well done, I guess. You kids need anything else, or we all set here?"

"Nope!" she said. "All good here! Thanks again!"

Gods, these fucking pokemon. Every single time, lately, some weird shit always happened whenever they were involved. For all she knew, that android cowboy cop was probably a pokemon, too. "Nope, I think I'm good," she said, not hiding the fact that she's pretty eager to get going. "I might come back in a few days to check on the shipment, just in case you goofballs forget or something." Her phrase is probably meant to be teasing, but the fact that her tone didn't change means that she might've actually meant it.

Huffing as she picked that one up, the Medicham shook her head and once more broadcast to both unconcernedly. ~Big Sis isnt a pokemon silly.~ Turning to the lobby, she finally opened up a channel to them too. ~Hi! Is it my turn yet?~

Scott offers a shorthand wave. "Alright, whatever you say," he said. "See you around!" Following this, he turns his attention to the only other person left in need of his services, just now seeming to realize that it, too, was a pokemon. Fortunately, he doesn't have the bias that Persephone does, so he's okay with that. "Yup, I'd say that it is."

Persephone, for her part, nods toward the door and opts to take her leave, hoping Hikari is willing to follow along without any further games or interactions. That took longer than it probably needed to, but at least something got accomplished from it.

She gives one more backward glance between Scott and the Medicham before she does, actually, follow after Persephone, also eager to get on with the rest of their adventure for the day.

With a last, cheerfull wave and a ~Hope you have a nice day!~ the Medicham reached into her jacket, and took out a small list, whatever psionic conversation she had with the lobby-clerk seemingly once more narrow-banded.

Outside, Persephone takes a moment to compose herself, shrugging off the frustration with having to wait longer for the bike fuel as well as the seemingly-ever-present Pokémon presence lately. "Glad we got that taken care of, at least," she said, with a small sigh. She regarded Hikari in silence for a moment before speaking again. "It's kind of weird. You're almost a completely different person outside of the Festival of Lights than what I'm used to seeing. I'd have never guessed you were that... you know. With the tech and stuff. You never struck me as the nerdy type."

Hikari only smiles, seemingly taking that as a compliment. "Yeah," she said, "that's not surprising. It comes with the exposure as much as anything. If I wasn't constantly helping my dad out, I don't think I'd have anywhere near as much of an affinity to the company's technology as I do, but I'm no less glad for it. They come in super handy." Her smile falters, but only slightly. "I guess I kind of just feel like I have to.. I don't know, keep up appearances, I guess, during the festival. I don't mind it, though, really."

Persephone felt like she'd heard that phrase, 'keep up appearances' from her at least once before, too. Honestly, it kind of bothered her. "Why, though?" she asked, one hand loosely on her hip. "Why can't you just be who you are, all the time, instead of just some of the time?"

The rest of her smile faded. "What about you, Sephie?" Hikari suddenly asked, with a subtle gesture of one hand. "One big thing I learned while growing up is that everybody has secrets. I'm not going to pretend that I don't. I've gotten to know you pretty well over the last few years, I think, just for the one week-at-a-time that we're together during the festival, but I'm sure there's something else under that 'I couldn't care less what anyone thinks' face of yours, right?" She stepped a little closer, one corner of her lip upturning in a faint smirk as she leaned in a bit too closely. "Riiiiight~?"

The sudden turnaround caught Persephone off-guard, and she backed up a step or two as Hikari get up in her grill. "Okay okay, I get it," she said, flustered. "But, like, all I'm saying is that if you like the stuff, you don't gotta hide it, you know? I guess, like..." She looked decidedly uncomfortable, but relented anyway, since some of the cards were being tossed on the table. "I got some stuff going for me that I'm not exactly happy about, too, but I don't hide anything about who I am to people, at least. People know that if they get on my bad side, they're gonna be talking to my fist. I don't need to pretend to be anyone, that's all I'm saying. And you shouldn't have to, either."

Her smile returned, and she offered a nod. "That's really sweet, and I appreciate it," she said, turning around and starting to walk back eastward toward Main Street. "One of these days I might take you up on that advice."

Persephone frowned, scratching one side of her head. "Yeah, okay," she said, but picked up her step to follow along without delving any further into it.

Eventually backtracking toward the center of Shrike, Hikari was less-concerned about the various buildings on the return trip than she'd been beforehand, and her blatantly-chipper demeanor returned in full before too long. The place seemed like it'd gotten a little busier in the last half-hour or so, with those who weren't working for the day or involved in other preoccupations apparently out and enjoying a sunny day in the city. "I think I know where I want to go next!" she said, beaming. "There's a department store that my mom used to take me when I was little, and I'd spend way too much time just looking at things without even buying anything, because it was a big deal to me at the time. I kind of want to see what all's changed since I last lived here. I bet they've modernized a bit!"

Persephone allowed Hikari to take the lead on the way back, and this wasn't a big deal because she had told Hikari that she could decide where they went for the day, since the whole thing was her idea. Shopping, of the window variety or otherwise, wasn't really her thing, and all the clothes she bought only ever boiled down to 'black' or 'not black' with regards to whether she was interested or not. Her boots were the only thing that actually mattered a whole lot, and those were custom-ordered online. But if it made her happy, then Persephone wasn't going to be a spoilsport about it. "Sure," she said. "I think there's a couple of them down at this end of the city, but I know there's at least one further south on Okonogi, too. I don't really shop much, but I've lived here long enough to have a pretty good idea where everything is, for the most part."

"Oh, it's the one up here," Hikari said, turning around slightly to glance back at Persephone. "It's right on the other side of the--" She didn't get to finish her sentence, because the act of looking back at her friend caused her to accidentally collide with another woman who was crossing paths at that exact moment, the process of which knocked the drink out of the other woman's hand and spill itself upon the pavement below. Hikari gave a small gasp of surprise and jumped back a little at the impact, worried features immediately spreading over her face and apology apparently at the ready, but then froze on the spot when she realized who it was.

The woman in question, herself, had been busy talking to some guy she was passing on the street and also not watching what she was doing, so it could be said that the fault was mutual. Still, the unintentional collision and subsequent loss of her drink, like most people, made her upset as much at the suddenness of it as the actual loss itself, and she scowled down at her beverage rapidly emptying its contents across the cement at her feet. She was a bit of a bigger girl and the visual of a tattoo came from the underside of her left sleeve, giving the impression that she might've been a bit rough around the edges in some regards. "The hell, man?" she said with due irritation, turning to glare at Hikari. "Why don't you watch where you're... going..?" She blinked in surprise when she was who it was she'd bumped into, her exasperation tapering off accordingly into something else.

Persephone stopped, herself, a short distance away, unable to really vocalize any warning at the impending crash she then witnessed. Noting the immediate aggression on the part of the bigger girl, though, she grew concerned for Hikari's well-being and closed the gap between them rather speedily, fully ready and available to muscle in-between them if it came down to that. The sudden recollection between the two of them puts a question mark above her head, though, and she doesn't say anything at first.

Hikari's expression gradually transforms into something that is definitely recollection, but also something else that isn't-quite-as-readable. That frown subsides, though, for what it's worth. "Oh, Tabitha... it's been awhile, hasn't it?" she asks. The worried look on her face is no longer there, either.

The woman, 'Tabitha,' seems at a loss for words as she regards Hikari, and at first, there's definitely the same vein of recollection present on her somewhat-chubby face. But as something sinks in, that recollection allows what definitely seems to be fear to edge itself onto her face, compounded by the fact that she backs up a step. Some people nearby have stopped to gawk at the episode taking place, like people tend to do, but most of them ignore it and continue on about their business. Tabitha, herself, doesn't say anything, letting the look on her face speak for itself.

Persephone looks between the two of them, mostly confused, but also kind of amused, because although she doesn't know what's going on, seeing little Hikari put that kind of face on someone else was not something she'd have ever thought was possible, especially considering the differences between the two. She got the impression that she wasn't going to need to stand up for Hikari in this particular instance, but she'd remain on standby anyway, just in case. Her curiosity over what was going on and why it was going on was pretty heavy, though, and there would definitely be questions afterward.

Hikari spontaneously breaks into a broad grin, putting her hands together in front of herself in her familiar pose. "You remember me, right?" she asked, absolutely milking the sugary-sweetness act for all it was worth. The obnoxiousness was probably tangible. "It's Hikari! We were in sixth grade together!"

The words coming out of Hikari's mouth only seem to drain the color from Tabitha's face further, but before she can do or say anything about it, someone else reaches out from behind to place a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump in surprise. "Hey, what are you doing?" a slightly-older man asks, looking like he might've been a brother or something. "Dad's waiting at the station, come on. You know how he gets." The man casts a brief glance at Hikari and Persephone, but seems of a 'not my business' sort. It also might seem apparent that he didn't actually witness what happened.

Tabitha, herself, eventually manages a response, though her eyes are locked onto Hikari as she speaks. "Yeah.. right, yeah," she stammers. "Okay, I'm going." And she promptly turns around to scoot herself away from both the girls, leading the other man away toward some other predetermined destination. Her steps are a bit hastened and she doesn't look back.

Hikari simply stands there and watches her go, that grin remaining in place the whole while. Something about it seems off, actually, but to anyone who knew her in any other capacity, it was just a grin.

Persephone watches the other two leave, holding her place for a few moments before turning her attention to Hikari. "Old friend of yours, I take it?" she asked.

She, too, watches the two of them go, that grin holding up pretty well the whole while. "Something like that," she responded. "I wasn't well-liked in school, unfortunately. Some people had more of a problem with me than others, but when I stood up for myself, I did it very well." Her tone feels a little cryptic, but likely intentionally-so, and she eventually turns to look at Persephone, letting her hands go back to her side. "Anyway, let's go!"

That comment draws a small frown on Persephone's face that she doesn't make any attempt to hide. She knew how that felt pretty well, and she'd heard some of the bits and pieces from Kaede, but being told of it firsthand from Hikari herself kind of hit differently. The pangs of sympathy didn't linger too long, though, and she nodded at Hikari's own shrugging-off of things. "Alright, yeah," she said, glancing aside. "Maybe just watch out for people this time, okay?"

Hikari leads the way toward one of the smaller stores on Kohryuu Avenue at the eastern end, stopping for a moment just outside to note the lack of actual advertising in place. "I think the phrase mom used to use for this place was that it's a 'hidden gem' or something," she said, head slightly tilted. "It's one of those places that's really neat and has a lot of stuff, but they don't really sell themselves and most of their business is word-of-mouth. But the fact that it's still here after so long means that they're apparently doing well-enough to stay in business." She smiles a happy smile and heads inside, that whole spiel almost feeling like it was as much Hikari talking to herself as much as Persephone.

She regards the store with moderate indifference, only seeing a store that sells things she doesn't and likely wouldn't ever need, but hey, you never know. Things have jumped out at her before, and if this is what 'hanging out' is all about, she wouldn't know in the first place, so it's just as well that Hikari's the one leading the way, today.

Once inside, one could literally see the nostalgia pouring itself out over Hikari's features, the expression of someone coming upon something as an adult that they last saw through the eyes of a child. It was, as expressed, a small department story that nearly comes off as a tourist trap, but not quite. Everything in the establishment can pretty much be seen from right up front, situated around a square-countered checkout station within the center of the otherwise-spacious single room. Each wall seems to feature a different category of options, ranging from clothes, to jewelry, to knickknacks and trinkets, and even food. A few people are seen traipsing about the interior, casually browsing this and that with little regard for anything beyond their own potential purchases and time spent doing so.

For her part, Hikari looks absolutely giddy. "It's bigger!" she said, probably a little louder than required. "A little more cramped than I remember, too, but there's a lot more here than before, too. Most of it was just clothes and a few other things, but this is really cool!" So cool it is, in fact, that she doesn't even wait for Persephone to confer with her before she takes off down one of the aisles in the clothing section, disappearing in that only-too-happy-to-be-here sort of way that she expresses best.

Like a good little companion, Persephone enters behind Hikari with a 'yup, it's a store' sort of expression, one hand on her hip in doing so. She makes no comment at Hikari's outburst, but does smirk a bit as the blonde girl runs off like the child she probably still is, somewhere inside. Herself, she stands there just inside the entryway, glancing halfheartedly at what there is to see from her vantage point without going too far inside. She wondered, briefly, if something was broken inside her, maybe, as to why she didn't get excited over things that, as far as she knew, girls were supposed to get excited over. But she just didn't see the appeal. That's okay, though, she's good at pretending, and they weren't here for her, anyway.

Shuffling through assorted racks and things like someone who obviously had a penchant for clothes-shopping, Hikari comes upon something that gives her pause, as well as a slight head-tilt. "Swimsuits, already?" she asks out loud, a bit incredulously. "It's barely spring!"

She looks over at Hikari's commentary, and makes her way over just to see what's going on. And, you know, be part of the group. "I'm not surprised," she said, pushing something against one side of the rack Hikari was browsing through. "Place like this probably has all seasons set up, all year long. I bet you'll find winter stuff down at the other end of the wall, too." She didn't actually know that for sure, but the place kind of gave her that 'everything is here when you need it, and also when you don't need it' vibe.

Hikari squeaks gleefully. "I love winter stuff!" she exclaims, promptly hurrying herself down toward said end of the wall to see if Persephone was correct.

Persephone raises an eyebrow. Were they hanging out, or was she babysitting? Goodness.

She held herself up for a moment with a halfhearted glance at all the clothes that then-currently surrounded her. Even beyond her own limited tastes, very little of this stuff, she felt, would look good on anyone, anyway. She glanced through a couple lines of blazers and hooded sweatshirts as she made her way back toward the opposite end of the store at a very casual pace, figuring she might as well at least find something to do while Hikari went apeshit over childhood memories. She passed back across the entryway and crossed over to what looked like a wall of jewelry that screamed 'young and edgy teenager,' and she had to force herself not to laugh at the absurdity of the idea that anyone would willingly buy any of this crap. Still, though, she looked it over, if only for the personal amusement factor of seeing just how obnoxious some of it was.

"Oh my GOSH, they STILL have these!?" comes Hikari's voice from the back of the store. It's not clear who she's talking to, if anyone, but it is boisterous enough that one or two people in the store (and the clerk at the checkout counter) cast sidelong glances in her direction.

Hikari's outburst snags her attention away from the wall of garbage she was looking at, and she turns around with intent to see exactly what it was that her friend was fussing about in this particular instance. However, as her eyes trail past everything to look away, something in the corner catches her eye and she stops, forgetting Hikari's excitement for the moment and peering down at the floor. Something had apparently either been knocked off a hook it was situated on, or just carelessly discard by whomever was looking at it last. She stooped slightly to reach down and pick it up, and looked at it for a good several moments, squinting slightly.

It was just a dumb little necklace charm, no different than any of the other dozens upon dozens that were hanging up on individual hooks along the wall behind her. Looking like it was made of either plastic or cheap crystal, it looked to be some kind of sun-shaped adornment, gold in color, with seven tiny little 'sunlight arms' dangling around the central circle, held onto a flimsy little metal chain that would probably break with even an infant's worth of force put into it. It was such a silly and pointless thing, but something was registering in her head, at that moment; it took her an extra moment to figure out why, but when it came to her, she involuntarily raised an eyebrow.

Hikari's name means 'light.'

She didn't really know where it came from, all of the sudden, but Kaede's comment came back to her right then. For whatever reason, as dumb as it was, as pointless a gesture as it would probably be, she kept the charm, gazing upon it for a moment longer before raising her eyes toward the rest of the wall, as if trying to see the empty hook upon where it had fallen from, but she came up empty. Persephone frowned to herself. "What the fuck..." she muttered, not really sure what was actually going on with herself at the moment. But whatever. If Hikari got at least a small kick out of it, that's fine.

Hikari continues to basically parade around through the back half of the store, several things already in hand, her attention constantly being stopped here and there as her eyes fall upon various things, some old and some new, with appropriate amounts of fixation based upon each. Anyone would think she'd never actually been shopping before.

Glancing around in a moment of self-consciousness of her spontaneous decision, Persephone peers back toward the location of Hikari's voice to make sure she's still far enough away, and then promptly slides herself up to the checkout counter so that she can buy the little trinket before anyone else notices. In spite of herself, and knowing she's not actually doing anything wrong or even out-of-the-ordinary, her cheeks burn slightly from some kind of inherent embarrassment at what she's doing. She keeps her head down as the clerk checks out her purchase for her, and once complete, it goes immediately into the pocket of her jacket, and she leaves the counter just as quickly as she arrived, heading around the corner to go see what kind of business Hikari's gotten herself into, up to this point.

Hikari's gotten herself into lots of business! A half-folded turtleneck, bright blue (of course) in color, hangs over one arm as she browses through a shelf of what looks like little kids' toys, and in her other hand are three or four packaged items that look completely and utterly pointless to anyone except her, and even that might be speculative. All in all, though she looks like she's have a grand old time, and continues to do so even as Persephone approaches. "We should have done this sooner, Sephie!" she chirps, not looking up from the shelf she's perusing but seeing her friend approach out of the corner of her eye. "This is great!"

Persephone grins just a smidge, shaking her head a little bit. "I had a feeling that it didn't take a lot to make you happy," she said, "but I'd never have guessed that one little trip through a goofy little side-store would be all it took." She stopped short of making a rich-kid joke, not really finding an appropriate punchline that wouldn't come off as either rude or inappropriate. Oh well.

"I think I mentioned that mom and I went here a few times," Hikari said offhandedly, picking something up to look at it, then putting it back. "But I was just a tagalong during those times. It's a little different actually being the one looking around at everything and knowing that if you want something, you can just buy it. And, you know, the memories are important too. I bet mom would flip if she saw some of the things they still have in here..." she trails off, still mostly-lost in her browsing.

Her grin slips at the mention of memories, and Persephone looks past Hikari at some nonspecific spot elsewhere with a small frown. Her mom hadn't really been much for shopping, probably because she spent most of her time actually raising her, since her dad wasn't around much more often than he was nowadays. For all she knew, though, that could've been the difference in having a saiyan for a mom. It probably wouldn't have changed much, though, since she was such an introvert growing up that the idea of actually, willingly going out to shop or socialize without some sort of forced pretense was just a wild idea all on its own. For a moment, Persephone had to fight down a jealous bitterness at Hikari still having both of her parents and being on good terms with both of them. She knew better than almost anyone that life wasn't fair, but sometimes it was hard not to take it personally or feel like it was being rubbed in her face.

Hikari picks something else up and goes to ask Persephone a question about it, but spots the distant frown on her face and sets the item back down, straightening herself up. "Sephie?" she asks, concernedly.

Realizing she's being spoken to, she blinks, refocusing her gaze upon Hikari. "Oh, uh," she said, sheepishly. "Sorry, I think I just zoned out. Is everything okay?"

She looks a little suspicious, but doesn't comment further on it. "I think I'm probably about ready to go check out," she said, instead. "Did you find anything you wanted while we were here?"

Her mind immediately goes back to that charm hidden in the depths of her coat pocket, but she staves off any recognition showing on her face that Hikari might perceive. "Nah," she said. "Places like this aren't really my thing, but it's okay to window shop once in awhile, right? I might get ideas for something later." Damn, that was pretty smooth, actually.

She smiles a little, and nods. "Yeah, I get that," she said, moving past Persephone toward the front counter. "I was kind of worried that you might've even been feeling pressured because mom mentioned my birthday coming up in a few months." There's a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Right there in front of everyone, no less. Mom has no sense of subtlety, sometimes. I don't want any presents, though, and I hope everybody knows that. If anyone just wanted to come and see me, that'd be way more than enough for me. It's always so quiet in our house because we live so far away, so we don't get visitors very often. Having a house full of people on special occasions is super nice. I really enjoyed everyone being there after the festival was over."

Persephone moves to follow, but stops in place when Hikari starts talking about her birthday. She's almost expecting to be called out on something, like maybe Kaede had blabbed about their visit, but the rhetoric coming out of her didn't seem to imply any knowledge about it. "Oh, nah, that's fine," she said, following behind a short distance. "I did hear about that, yeah, but I think I can spare a visit. I'll just have to make sure we have the dang fuel from Nakajima by then, otherwise I might be walking."

Hikari glances over her shoulder at Persephone, apparently struck by something she said, but doesn't make it apparent as to what or why. Instead, she turns back around and proceeds to check out her things, standing there in the standard princess pose that she's well-known for at this point and waiting patiently to be rung up.

She decides to wait by the door for Hikari to finish with her things, casually glancing out one of the windows into the busy street beyond, where there were still plenty of people hurrying to and fro. Persephone pulls her jacket a little close, almost subconsciously tapping the pocket where she'd stored her purchase from earlier, as if making sure it was still there.

Hikari finishes up what she's purchasing and offers a cheerful thanks to the clerk as they're putting all the things in a bag for her. Finished, she loops the bag around one of her wrists and turns toward the door where Persephone's waiting. "That was a lot of fun and I'm already looking forward to coming back here again later," she said, with a grin. "Thanks!"

Persephone raises an eyebrow. "You make it sound like we're already done," she said, suddenly wondering if Hikari was actually ready to leave, already. "Didn't you wanna go get something to eat, too?"

"Oh, yeah!" she said, with kind of a 'derp, of course' tone. "I just meant this store. I'm definitely not ready to go home yet!"

"That's good," she said, perking up a bit. "I know I said I'd let you lead, but I actually think I know where we should go to grab that snack you wanted." She pushes against the door with her shoulder, opening it and holding it there for Hikari to pass through. "There's a dessert café that I've been to a few times over the past few years, and it's really good stuff. It's back a little ways on Boston, though, but we can cut through Sei Park to get there."

The smile on Hikari's face couldn't possibly have been any brighter. "Really?" she squeaks. "That sounds amazing! I'm all for it!" She does, indeed, step through the doorway being opened for her, squinting a little bit at the sunshine beaming down on her as she comes outside.

Persephone took the lead at this point, heading toward the far eastern end of Kohryuu to where a side trail led into and through Sei Park, a large and wooded park situated alongside the edge of a cliff against the Aegiran ocean. It was early enough in the year that the pear trees lining the trail's border were still struggling to bring some of their leaves back, much less prepare fruit, but it was a nice enough day that at least a couple of children could be heard yelling and frolicking as kids did. Not being much for either of those things, Persephone spoke up about an altogether-different subject. "Still scratching my head something fierce over the idea that anyone would be outright afraid of you, Hikari," she said as they walked along, keeping her face forward. "Like, no offense or anything, but the last thing I think anyone generally feels when they look at you is 'fear.' I bet you could walk into a cave and it'd light right up."

Her expression is veiled, but that's fine because Persephone wasn't looking at her, anyway. "Yeah," she said. "That was part of the reason I didn't exactly have the best time at school, either." That was pretty much a lie, actually, but some things were better left in the dark for now. "You know, hanging out for only a week each year doesn't really give us a lot of time to dish out the details, especially since most of that week is busy spent upholding other obligations, but I kind of feel like our childhoods weren't so different, in some ways, Sephie. I could be wrong, but it's just a hunch."

She's silent a moment while she considers that statement. "Maybe," Persephone eventually said. "But it's hard to imagine you beating the crap out of people when they got on your nerves, too. I definitely didn't hesitate, and that was why I had such a rough time. Kinda did it to myself. And things only got worse after mom died."

Hikari smiles faintly, but not happily. "Yeah..." she said, not responding immediately. She glanced off toward the east, over the span of the park and the expanse of outward ocean that lay beyond. "I know your mom is a sore subject. I try not to bring it up if I can help it. I was kind of... wild, growing up. You might not believe this, but I didn't have a lot of filters when I was a kid, and it took almost everything my mom and dad both had to keep me under control. I got angry real easily, and I took it out on people just as easily. Some of them got hurt. Some really badly."

She actually stops at this, turning to regard Hikari in surprise. Kaede's words from their meeting were kind of needling at her in a weird way, but she ignored it. "For real?" she asked. "I sure don't see it. It's weird to see you not smiling about something, anytime you're around."

Her hollow smile changes into a small grin as she looks up at Persephone. "Could be the company I keep," she said passively, but not without implication. "Plus, the Festival of Lights is supposed to be about everyone being happy. There's plenty enough to make everyone miserable for the other 51 weeks of the year. But I still have my downs as much as my ups, too. I get sad, and afraid, and angry, and everything else. I just know how to handle it better than I used to, and I have my--" She stops, feeling like that was going to be too much for Persephone, so she takes a different route. "We grow older and we get over things. You don't ever forget them, of course, but everyone has their trials, Sephie. If we can overcome them, it makes us better people for it."

The wheels in Persephone's brain kick into overdrive with that last comment, hearing the exact same phrase being spoken to her through Kaede's voice. Fucking weird deja vu, right here. She just kind of looks at Hikari, studying her features for a moment as if trying to figure out how to respond to those statements. Whatever implication Hikari may have been making in the first of them seemed to go over her head, or she just forgot with the lattermost of them. "Well," she eventually said, turning back around. "You know, like, I get sad too. A lot. Way too often, I think. So, I guess, if you're ever feeling upset about something, you have my number now, and that weird teleport-y thing that you can do with it. You can come hang out with me and we'll be miserable together." She smirks, like it was comedy. "Maybe we'll find a thug or two on the streets and go beat them up for good measure."

As Persephone starts walking away, she doesn't immediately follow. There's a weird look on her face, bordering somewhere on 'uncertainty,' but she doesn't say anything verbally about it.

She doesn't walk too far ahead before noticing, and stops again, glancing over her shoulder. "You comin'?" she asked.

"O-oh, yeah!" she said, sounding a mite surprised. "Sorry, just... things. You know how it is." She picked up the pace a bit so she could follow along through the rest of the park, with the eastern end of Boston Avenue coming upon them in a relative hurry.

Situated pretty much right at the northwestern corner of Sei Park (and likely with full intent as such) and the eastern end of Boston Avenue, a quaint little café is nestled up against a much larger, abandoned-looking building on its west side. This little building is pretty cute-looking, in all honesty, which is weird that someone like Persephone might suggest it; a short-span awning over the upper front of the building is striped in pink and white, and there's a neon sign in the window depicting cherries, strawberries, a peach, etc, and a standee sign set aside near the front door has a whiteboard set into it with daily specials and other deals written on it in washable blue marker.

Persephone stops just outside of it, glancing eastward toward the park, then back at Hikari. "Haven't been here in a few months, but this is the place," she said. "Kind of feel like it might be a good fit, but you'll see what I mean when we get inside." She pivots slightly. "We can either eat inside, or we can grab something and go eat in the park, if you want. I'll leave that part up to you, and I'm fine with either. I usually grab-and-go, but that's just me because I have a problem staying in one spot for too long. Personal quirk, I guess."

Hikari peeks around Persephone so she can get a good look at the place being described, and one could see the little stars shining in her eyes as she takes it in. "Oh my gosh," she said, "if we had one of these in Viorar, I would be there ALL day, EVERY day. And I haven't even been inside, yet! It's adorable!"

She takes a moment to recover form her fawning to recognize that she's been asked to make a decision. She, too, glances eastward at the park, then at the shop, then at the park again, and finally back at Persephone. "Can I see what it looks like inside before I have to make a decision?" she asks, in kind of a small and hopeful voice.

She laughs, probably the first time having done so in awhile. "Of course you can, goofy," she said. "I get the feeling we're probably going to be eating inside, but I just wanted to make sure you had the option, since it's the first nice day we've had in a while."

Persephone reaches out toward the door-handle rung and pull it open for Hikari, which is accompanied by the jingle of a pair of golden bells set over the topmost part of the door. The inside looks pretty much like the outside indicated that it would: small-statured with a single aisle between the serving/kitchen area and a small handful of booths resting along the multi-windowed walls, and decorated with various fruit-accented motifs and designs on the walls. Each table of each booth has a small paper placemat set on each side in the shape of a bowl of various fruit, and the establishment seems rather quiet at the moment, with no other customers visible at the moment except for the two of them.

It doesn't take more than a few seconds after the ringing of the bells before a chirpy female voice calls out from somewhere behind a door in the back. "Irasshaimase! One moment!"

Hikari steps in and off to one side as Persephone enters, and she looks startled when she hears the voice and ensuing greeting that comes with it. But when it registers what was said, her eyes get real big, almost like she knew what was coming. "What, Sephie..!" she said, turning to look at her. "Is this a..?"

Hikari doesn't get to finish that question, because from out of the back room comes a short woman somewhere in her early 30s, a pleasant and maybe-somewhat formal or businesslike smile on her face as she strides toward the counter in front. She's wearing a full maid-style ensemble, complete with a frilly headband, little blue hair ribbons on either side of her head, and a short-skirted, lace-hemmed blue dress with short ruffled sleeves. The socks she wears are also a deep blue and come up past her knees, with shiny black shoes on her feet. She looks prepared to offer what might have been a standard-faire speech to the newcomers, but when she sees who it is, her smile turns a bit more genuine. "Ah! Kuroi ojou-sama! It's been awhile!"

Hikari just stands there, mouth agape as she sees the little woman approach the counter. "It's a maid cafe!!" she half-exclaims, half-yells, unable to contain herself as the excitement bursts forth. "There's no way this was here when I was little! I would have been here every day! How..!?" She manages to calm herself down at least enough to properly address Persephone about all this. "I have so many questions right now, but the biggest one is that you've been going to a maid cafe for years and never told me about it!?" Like, this was the most important question/complaint out of everything, obviously, and also like Persephone was just supposed to know what Hikari was thinking this whole time, too. She turns back to the woman without actually waiting for a response. "Ahh, I'm so excited!" she squeals, like it wasn't already super-apparent.

She just grins, apparently having expected such a response and appropriately-leveled outburst once Hikari realized what kind of place it was. "I get the feeling we're going to be eating inside, then," was all she said, unable to keep the smugness form her tone. The name/title as given by the proprietor, for what it is, either doesn't bother her or she doesn't know what it means, and for Persephone, it's possible that it could be the latter over the former, considering how pissy she got with Mark, back at Nakajima, over the same thing less than a week prior.

She half-turns back to the counter and gives a nod, one hand placing itself on her hip. "Hi Maru," she said. "Has been awhile, yeah." Persephone glances aside at the rest of the place out of the corner of one eye. "Little slow today, huh? With as nice as it is outside, I'd figure this place would be packed."

The woman, 'Maru,' seems to regard Hikari's excitement with close amounts thereof. "Are you a new face?" she asks. "I'm so glad to hear that! I would welcome you to Chiisai Tori, then, and we've been up and running for close to five years, now!" She seems to take a stance that answers both sets of questions. "We have bursts from time to time, but the last big group came and went about an hour ago. We'll have people trickle in and out from time to time, but it'll get busy again before we close." She smiles happily between the two of them, folding her hands together. "This is the first time you've brought a friend, though, isn't it? I was under the impression you were a lone wolf, the whole time!"

Since Hikari still seems to be trying to reel herself in, Persephone speaks up first. "I mean, that hasn't changed," she said, shaking her head. "But I'm allowed to make exceptions." She gestures at Hikari. "Maru, this is Hikari. Known her for a few years, off and on." She nods. "Hikari, this is Maru. She runs the place, and I say that instead of saying she's the boss, because she doesn't really like that term very much. Takes pretty good care of the place and the other girls who work here. Like, the atmosphere and all isn't really my style, but when a place is good, you keep comin' back."

Hikari seems to be deeply-fixated on their host instead of offering any sort of response, at least at first. Eventually, both pairs of eyes are upon her long enough to where she comes to her senses. "Ah, sorry!" she said. "That's so rude of me!" She, herself, puts her hands together and offers a semi-formal bow. "Fukawa Hikari desu! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!"

Maru's cheerful demeanor slips a little bit when Hikari introduces herself, one eyebrow raising slightly. "Fukawa?" she repeats. "Of Fukawa Industries?" She blinks in surprise, turning to Persephone. "You're friends with the Fukawa family? You?" Her bewilderment is completely genuine, nothing short of absolute shock registering on her face.

"Hey now," Persephone said, with a short dismissive wave. "That's kind of offensive. I'm not that bad of a person." She pauses, considering briefly. "I think?"

Hikari, too, seems a little unenthused by the fame her family name brings with her. "No, it's uh..." she said, waving her hands in front of her face. "Just 'Hikari,' here. I'm used to that when I'm helping my dad out at the company, but I just want to be 'Hikari' today. I don't feel like I get that as often as I'd like, and it's kind of nice to just be a 'face in the crowd' once in awhile."

Maru looks a little taken aback at the lack of formality, but is also agreeable. "Well, if you insist!" she said, her good humor returning. "I'm glad to have both of you here, then. Do you want to have a seat and I'll bring a menu over, or do you know what you want?" She gestures upward, where a long line of various desserts and their prices are showcased across a top panel, just below the ceiling, above the area behind the counter. "Eri's on break, but if it's just the two of you, I'm sure I can take care of it."

Amused by the exchanges going on between the other two, Persephone lets her hand drop form her hip. "Ah, I already know what I want," she said, with just a brief glance upward at the overhead list of offerings. "Makes it easier for both of us 'cause then we never have to worry about whether I'll like it or not. Medium strawberry parfait, no nuts."

"You can order whatever you want, Hikari," she said, backstepping just a little. "Probably a silly gesture considering where we come from, but I'll buy you dessert today." Kind of 'silly' on multiple fronts, really, since it's the first thing she, herself, is going to have eaten today. But then, she was an adult, and she could eat whatever she damn-well pleased, whenever she damn-well pleased.

"Ah, uhm..." Hikari stammered, looking more than a little flustered. What she really wanted to do was just stand there in bask in the awesomeness of the situation she was in, but then again, she could always do that sitting down, too. "I'm not sure, I'm not good with decisions. I'll just have the same thing! But, uh, a little one. Small, please."
April 10, 2024

The proprietress smiles and claps her hands together. "Okay!" she said. "Go ahead and sit anywhere you want, and I'll bring them out to you in just a couple minutes." She gives a half-wise formal bow, the same sort of one Hikari had just impressed upon a moment ago. "Arigatou gozaimasu!" And just like that, with a whirl of that fancy lace-trimmed skirt, Maru hustles her way back into the kitchen area to prepare their order.

Still amused, Persephone turns and gently nudges Hikari. "I'm glad you seem to be having a good time," she said, brushing past her toward a table up front. "Kinda makes me feel more comfortable about this whole thing, since I had no idea what I was doing, going into it. Was kinda hoping you would, but it looks like it worked out for both of us."

Hikari absolutely watches Maru leave all the way until she's out of sight, and blinks up at Persephone as she brushes past. "Oh, yeah!" she said agreeably. "But I also didn't... really know what I was doing, either." She turns around, tilting her head just a little as Persephone picks out a table. "I didn't plan for anything other than picking up my dad's order, and I guess I just kind of figured everything else would fall into place. That's usually how it works, for me. And I haven't been disappointed, so far!" She turns back again, still fawning over the place as a whole. "This place alone is going to give me a reason to come back, hopefully when there's more people! I want to see all the cute girls in their dresses serving other people and everything!" This girl is really deep in the whole 'maid' fantasy, apparently.

Persephone slides into one side of the booth, and goes to tap her knuckles on the table to get Hikari's attention and tell her to sit her butt down, but... doesn't. Instead, she just kind of watches her get lost in her own little world of silly, simple things, and is kind of... enamored by it, just a little bit. Like she's never seen anyone so absolutely, unconditionally happy about something so... simple and basic like going to a cafe and ordering a dessert. It's weird, because if it was anyone else, Persephone might just roll her eyes and tell them to knock it off because they look stupid and are embarrassing themselves, but Hikari's situation rang a different bell, and she wasn't sure why. She was just glad for her happiness, she guessed. Kaede's story about what happened, mixed with what Persephone was trying to do over the next few months, probably had something to do with it. Probably.

It isn't a whole lot longer before Maru makes her grand re-entrance, carrying a flat plastic tray with two slightly-different sized cups of strawberry-topped ice cream, with assorted other bits and things in one dish or the other. A smile is bolted onto her face as she comes 'round to Persephone and Hikari's table and hands them off, tucking the tray under one arm once she's done do. "There you go!" she said. "Is there anything else I can get for you, while I'm here?" There was the sound of a back door opening, just then, as someone apparently came in from the back room, but then left just as quickly through another door before they could be acknowledged.

Hikari is, not unexpectedly, still standing and gawking at the establishment as their server comes back with their desserts, and rather than get back to her seat so she can enjoy it, she just kind of stands there and continues to gaze longingly at Maru, that spell over her seemingly quite a difficult one to break.

Persephone, however, suddenly gets an idea as she realizes that Hikari won't seem to let it go. She beckons with a finger for Maru to lean down so she can whisper something into her ear.

Maru looks surprised for a moment as she hunches over so she can listen to what Persephone has to say, which produces the biggest grin on her face as the request manifests. She gives an emphatic nod as she stands back up, and then offers a general bow to the table as a whole. "Please enjoy!" she chimed, before turning around and heading toward the back area once more.

"Hey," Persephone said, tapping the table. "Your ice cream's gonna melt if you don't get over here and eat it. You can marvel later, she'll be back."

"Ahh, okay..." Hikari relented, taking her seat across the way from Persephone. "This is kind of your fault, you know."

"You mean 'all my fault'?" Persephone corrected.

"Yes!" Hikari said, pretending to glare. "One-hundred precent your fault!"

She just grinned as she tucked into her parfait, glancing halfheartedly out the window on her right side between bites. Within those first few bites, she suddenly realized how hungry she actually was, and noted to herself that not eating any breakfast and then digging into a bowl of sugar was probably not the best idea, but she'd remedy that in awhile.

For her part, Hikari digs into her dessert with gusto and seems to be enjoying herself, but it's easy to see that she's still distracted with the occasional glance toward the front counter, as if waiting to see if Maru or any of the other currently-on-duty staff might make another appearance.

Of course, she notices. It's not like it wasn't super obvious or anything. "Don't you have anything like this in Viorar, Hikari?" she asked, holding up her spoon in mid-scoop. "I'm kind of surprised at how big a deal this is; given that it's a night-style city, you'd think that stuff like this wouldn't be uncommon there. I mean, from what I heard, there's a nightclub and everything over there, I would think a theme restaurant or café would be a given."

She peers down at her parfait for a moment, spoon still in her mouth. "Mmm..." she considered, before removing the utensil from her mouth so she could talk. "You'd think so, and I guess I'm kind of surprised, too. But no, there's definitely nothing like this. I don't live in Viorar or anything, but it's where mom and I do all our shopping unless we need something from Kakariko, and I'm sure there's nothing like this." She paused, looking up from her dessert. "Am I being too much?" She didn't sound that worried, but there may have been a trace of it.

"No no, of course not," Persephone dismissed, waving her spoon. "Not even close. It's kind of cute, actually. I just wondered, since it seemed like a perfect fit. Maybe you could put a bug in someone's ear and see about getting one instated. If you had enough support for it, I'm sure there'd be some entrepreneur somewhere who'd be willing to take up the prospect."

There's suddenly a soft squeal from the other side of the room, and another woman comes clacking out onto the café floor in her shiny black shoes and uniformed maid attire, dressed up exactly as Maru had been; Maru, herself, happens to be nearby, hanging back on the other side of the counter with a grin and one elbow propped up under her chin. The girl doing the squealing looks a fair bit younger, maybe around or slightly older than Hikari, and slightly darker of skin with rather large brown pigtails bouncing merrily on either side of her head. "Fukawa-saaaan!" she called out, hurrying over. "Maru said you were here! In Shrike! In our store! I can't believe it!" She stopped before the table, offering a hurried but affectionate bow. "I'm so lucky I worked today! I would have been so mad if I missed my chance to meet you in person!" She straightens, folding her hands together politely at the front of her skirt. "I was at the Festival of Lights! I saw your performances and they were so good! But we couldn't stay the whole week and I never got to ask for your autograph!" All of this kind of spills out of her, and she's quite out of breath by the time she finishes.

Hikari actually drops her spoon and loses it somewhere under the table as the second maid shows up and rushes their table, her eyes shining radiantly at the outburst pouring out over her. "I'm so glad to hear that!" She glances briefly down at her feet under the table for the rogue utensil, but doesn't see it, and grins sheepishly back at the new arrival. "I might need a new spoon, sorry about that. But, uhm... Oh!" She fumbles around in her back pocket, having to lean to one side so she can fish something out of there. "I don't have any paper or pens on me, but how about a picture together? That would make me happy, too! Everybody loves selfies!"

Persephone just grins away, watching this all happen without a word otherwise.

"Yes!" the girl bubbled happily. "Oh my gosh, so much 'yes'! That would be even better than an autograph, because then I can print it out and frame it!" She steps back a few paces, to let Hikari out of the booth. "Thank you so much!"

Persephone glances sidelong at Maru, then back at the girl, putting something together. "Are you 'Eri'?" she asked.

She withdraws her phone from her back pocket and slides easily out of her seat, leaving her half-finished parfait on the table without its spoon. Something occurs to her, then, and she turns to Persephone. "Sephie, would you be okay with taking the pictures for us?" she asked. "That way you can get one on my phone and hers, and we'll both have one!"

"Ah, yes!" 'Eri' beamed. "That's me! I was on break when you two came in!" Hearing Hikari's idea, Eri reaches into a pocket on her dress and procures her own phone, too. She takes a moment to tap and swipe away an opening to get it on the camera app, grinning way-too-happily to herself the whole time.

"Sure, I can do that," Persephone agreed. "Go ahead and set it up where you need it, and I'll get a good shot of you guys together."

Hikari sets her phone up quick and easy before passing it along to Persephone in camera-mode, happily taking a place next to Eri alongside the table.

Eri, too, finishes setting up her phone and sets it on the table next to Persephone, before taking up a place next to Hikari. "This is so great!" she gushes. "I really appreciate this, you were so good during the festival and I can't wait for next year!" She smiles happily for the camera, holding it in while Persephone gets herself ready.

She grins, and wraps one arm around Eri's waist so they can be closer for the picture, holding up one hand with the all-important 'V' sign for the camera!

Familiar enough with her own phone and its camera function, it doesn't take her but a few seconds to get Hikari's phone lined up for the shot, and steadies the angle for a second before snapping one, then two, then a third, just because you can always delete the ones you don't want, but you can't take more after the moment's gone. "Okay, gimme one second to switch," she said, setting Hikari's phone down on the table and retrieving Eri's in much the same fashion. Holding it up, she steadies the angle and applies the same triple-shot procedure as before, making sure that at least one of them would be good enough for both involved. "There you guys go," she said, setting Eri's camera down on the table.

Hikari reaches out to retrieve her phone, but not so she can look at the pictures that were taken; instead, she busies herself with tapping out some settings on it, apparently getting it primed for something else. "Hang on!" she said, keeping Eri at arm's length to keep her from going anywhere just yet. "We have one more! You too, Maru!" She reaches behind the camera and pulls back some mini-kickstand partition, allowing the camera to sit propped-up when laid on its side.

Eri looks confused at first, but from her angle she can see what Hikari is going, and giggles a little bit. "I didn't know it was going to turn into such a big deal," she mused, glancing over her shoulder at Maru. "Better come on over here, Maru-san. I think there's a spot for you, too, yet."

Maru lifts her head up at being called over, sparing a glance over at Persephone in wondering if she had something to do with this or not. "Well, I suppose so," she said. "This is what happens when we let celebrities into the store, isn't it?" Still, she doesn't exactly seem too (read: at all) put out by it, and maneuvers around the back counter so she can join the group.

She looks a little surprised by the sudden take-charge attitude being displayed by Hikari in assembling the entourage for more pictures, but at the same time, she probably could have expected something like this. At the core of it all, Persephone's just glad that the outing turned out as good as it did, for any and all reasons involved. She'll be less worried about fussing over future get-togethers if today's went as well as it did, after all.

Hikari looks up as Maru makes her way over, and then pointedly looks at Persephone, with an expression that clearly asks 'why are you still sitting there instead of getting over here, too?' She doesn't even need words to convey her thoughts; it's clear as day, right there on her face.

She definitely catches that look, but blinks with uncertainty. "Me?" she asks, looking between the other two maid-staff and then Hikari again. "Why do I need to be in it?"

Eri steps away from the group and reaches out to pull loosely on Persephone's arm, still grinning. "Kuroi ojou-sama needs to be in the picture, too!" she said, using that name again that she had just accepted at this point, as many times as it'd been used, without knowing what it actually meant. "It's not a group photo without the whole group!"

"You're just as important as everyone else here, Sephie," she said, finalizing the settings on the phone and leaving it on the table as she backs up. "Come stand behind me, since you're taller than the rest of us!"

Maru glances toward the door on her way over. "This is going to look pretty strange if anyone happens to come in," she remarks. "But I suppose there are worse ways to spend downtime."

"I mean... I guess so," she said, a bit embarrassed by the prospect. She wasn't really planning for all of this and felt like this was really unnecessary, but it was pretty obvious that Hikari wasn't going to relent. Whatever she wanted, right? Persephone scoots her self out of the booth and joins the ground, swapping around behind the lot of them and noticing at such a proximity that she does, in fact, stand a little more than half a head taller than any of them. Seeing Eri and Maru on either side of Hikari, as well, answers a question she was actually mulling about a few minutes ago. "Alright, but like, who's going to take the picture?" Obviously Hikari had a plan if she was going to this length, but for her own lack of tech-savviness, she had no idea how that idea worked.

Maru and Eri stend in close to Hikari, waiting for Hikari to do what she needs to do, but each of them hold up appropriate V's in preparation for the picture yet-to-come, grinning toward the phone's lens.

As soon as Persephone lines up behind her, she reaches up and takes hold of her arms, bringing them around so that they wrap loosely around her neck, and holds them there. With a grin of her own, she lifts her chin slightly. "Akai ushi!" she loudly states; obviously some sort of trigger phrase, her camera accepts this and issues a click of acceptance as it snaps the picture of the four of them, immortalizing the moment in time, for better or for worse.

Persephone attempts to force some semblance of a smile for the camera for everyone else's sake, but when Hikari grabs hold of her arms and forces the pseudo-hug, the surprise catches her extremely off-guard and she ends up peering down quizzically at Hikari when the shot is taken. And then the 'oh crap, did I just ruin the picture?' moment sinks in, pretty much right afterward. She frowns a bit. "A little warning would've been nice," she said, with just a bit or irritation.

Hikari retains her grin, and lets Persephone's arms go at that point. "You didn't hate it," she said teasingly, stepping away to go and claim her phone.

Maru and Eri break away to go have a look, too, hovering over either of Hikari's shoulders so they can see how it turned out.

Perephone tilts her head slightly at Hikari's antics, but seeing the scene in front of her, she actually has a hard time staying annoyed because of the sheer oddity of it all. Two maids flanking their princess, of all things; it definitely could have been much worse of a day than it had been.

"See?" she said triumphantly, holding it up for everyone to see. "That's perfect! It's just how I want to remember everybody!" She smiles happily, and unhesitatingly grabs both Eri and Maru in awkwardly-angled hugs. "Thank you so much! You made an already-really-great day even better!" Her phone is angled behind them so that Persephone can see it, too: Hikari, Eri and Maru are all happily grinning away at the camera with both maids offering their individual-yet-nearly-identical poses, and Persephone, as she was, is peering down with thoughtful confusion at the top of Hikari's head. All in all, it's actually a pretty endearing picture, with equal amounts intent and candidness.

As their caretaker was busy, the ever-hungry Snorlax had wandered away from the Inventors Guild, despite his promise not too; The scents and smells of the city and all the various foodstuffs were just too much for the hungry, bearlike pokemon to endure. Sure, he through lots and lots of Re-enforced lessons barely knew better then to just Take the delicious smelling things, yet, appreciation was also a grand aspect of eating. Why, he felt certain he could convince the mistress to try their hand at making some if he found something truely good.

Carefully trotting through the city, their aimless wandering eventually brought them to a park, and sniffing the air directed them onward, sniffing at foodstalls, much to their owners dismay, before ambling on, to their gratified surprise. Finally, he found the most delectable smells; Something their caretaker had said he was going to get soon, if he was good. Ice-cream! Surely, noone would mind if he tried a little of it, it sounded so delicious! Pressing their giant head against the shop window, they peered in through slitted eyes. Yes, people, doing some silly posing as far as it could determine, but it meant the shop was Open!

Growling excitedly, and levering himself away from the window, he tottled over to the door. Doors were..troublesome, far easier to burst through, sure, but that was Rude and the mistress would smack him for being Stupid..again. Growling uncertainly, he tried the handle and with a big sweep of its mighty paw managed to pull it open, if somewhat roughly perhaps, the door didnt seem to break, thus he accounted that a Win. Leaning down, growling to himself about small openings, the giant black and tan bearlike beast slow and steadily worked himself into the tiny shop, almost salivating as the scents of delicious ice-cream filled his nostrils, his stomach growling loud and ferociously at the prospect.

Given that she's the only one facing toward the door at that particular moment, she would be the one who happens to see the door open and the bear-like creature try and wedge itself inside, amidst and around all of the noises it was making in the process. Her attention is drawn away from the picture Hikari is attempting to show her while she is embracing the shop's staff, and the frown that appears on her face is swift, deep, and arguably warranted. "Oh for fu--" she stops herself at the very last second, her mouth still shaped in that last syllable as if waiting for its turn to fall out of her mouth.

Maru and Eri squeak in surprise at the sudden noise behind them, pulling away from Hikari to regard the creature trying to get inside the shop, but Maru relaxes, at least, when she sees who and what it is. "Oh, again?" she said. "Your trainer really needs to keep better tabs on you!" Maru doesn't seem upset in the least, actually, and gives the group a shorthand backward glance before she makes her way back over the the counter.

Eri looks a little less optimistic about the large bear-thing trying to wedge itself through a set of doors clearly not intended for someone of its size or girth. "Uhm..." she begins to say, and offers a quick half-bow to Hikari. "Thank you so much for the picture, Fukawa-san! I need to get back to work, but I hope you have a wonderful day! I'll come see you again at the festival next year, I promise!" She beams a smile before hurrying to follow after Maru.

In the wake of all this, she just kind of stands there, holding her phone and slowly turning around to see the beast trying to get inside the not-for-size establishment. "Oh, a Snorlax?" she said, her erstwhile concern dropping noticeably. "I've seen one of those before. It was awhile ago, though!" She pauses, looking down at her phone, then at the Snorlax again... and promptly lifts said phone up, to take a picture of the sheer goofiness of what she's witnessing.

Growling curiously, the Snorlax gave the gathered company a disarming grin, though given this displayed its mouthfull of big, sharp teeth, though the gesture was friendly, how it was perceived was quite another. Gesturing with one giant paw at a tub of icecream, it opened its eyes slightly for a pleading, covetous look, making a small, pleading whining noise to accompany it. They seem to acknowledge the phone pointed at them, but given the various responses he'd gathered over time, just 'Must photograph' was mild. Turning to the Blond, he straightened up and posed as much as the room inside the shop allowed. Anyone familiar with Snorlax's might spot that this one, though massive for the breed, was actually fairly trim and muscular rather then just rotund.

With all the not-care anyone would have who might've been exposed to various pokespecies over time, Hikari takes a picture to add to her adventures for the day, grinning faintly as she lowers the phone. "I hope it doesn't break down the doors, though... oh!" She gets an idea, and sets her phone down on the table, picking up the rest of her parfait and trotting easily over toward the oversized critter. "I bet I know what you want!" And she does, in fact, offer the rest of her dessert to the Snorlax, having a pretty good idea why it is here despite being blonde.

Persephone just... sighs, and shakes her head. Of course. Of. Fucking. Course. But...
She looks at Hikari's phone still on the table, then at Hikari and the pokemon a bit further beyond. At least it had to decency to lag behind long enough to not ruin that picture. That would have been a straw-breaker, for absolute certain. For the moment, she could at least... tolerate it. So long as Hikari seemed fine with it, anyway.

Beaming at being offered his desired treat, the Snorlax with surprising daintiness picked up the parfait glass in one giant shovelsized paw. Raising it to his head, he inhaled deeply, before promptly upending the partial treat in one go, giant tongue snaking out to lick the glass container clean too. Smacking his lips delightedly, he patted the nice blond's head in a friendly gesture with his free hand, making certain to keep the gesture slow, light and non-threatening, all while growling happily and incoherently, but their gratitude atleast was clear.

'Aaargh, you big lummox, get back out here already!' a resigned womans voice called out from inside. Through the window, a willowy blue-haired woman in a light sundress could be seen, tapping a foot impatiently. 'And stop bothering people for food. I seriously cant leave you alone for even half an hour?' Wincing for their part, the Snorlax growled softly and began to first turn, and then try and wriggle back out through the door. Still moving slow and carefully not to break anything, the mistress sounded upset enough as it was.

She giggles at the pat-patting she's afforded by the giant stuffed animal, and as she goes to put the empty dish down on the table, she leans to one side to peer out the window at the sound of the voice calling for her lost charge. Worrying for the sake of the establishment at the Snorlax's attempts to free itself, she tries to help the transition a bit by holding the other door open so that it doesn't try to pull in the wrong direction while the creature wriggles back the way it came. All of this with nothing short of absolute pleasantness and understanding, without even a trace of annoyance or frustration.

She looks down at the rest of her parfait still on the table, then back at Hikari and the pokemon once more, not really finding it in her to act one way or another at this time; Hikari obviously had the situation under control, and all that she had to offer would have probably exacerbated or compromised the situation as it currently stood. So she does the next best thing to cursing, and simply stays out of it. She does glance back toward the counter, though, and notices that Eri has taken up a place at the register.

Eri has, in fact, returned to her place at the counter, and while she still looks kind of nervous about the situation, seeing Hikari take to it resolves at least some of that concern.

Sighing softly, the woman, once the Snorlax is positioned right and is most of the way through, just grasps the bears wrists with her small dainty hands and with wiry muscles moving on her bare slender arms, hauls back, pulling them neatly through the doorway like a cork. Never mind the fact the bear weighed the better part of a ton. Nodding to Hikari 'Thanks for holding the door, made that a lot easier.' Patting the bear on its head 'You sit down here, I need to check inside, wether you did any damages.' Snapping a finger as if recollecting something, she twisted her hands and a giant carton of ice cream appeared in it, which she passed to the Snorlax 'Didnt hear anything from the rest of the food merchants, so you still earned your Treat.' Incongrously rather then a flavor, the side of the ice carton merely had a cartoonish depiction of a pink cow, or a Miltank as might be recognised on its side.

The Snorlax for their part, opened the carton, and with a Snorlax sized spoon, began to relish its frozen goodness. Though, with uncharacteristic charity, it did extend a smaller, likewise mysteriously appearing spoon to the Blond with a sizable scoop, to share his good fortune.

Walking into the shop, Elya looked around, and not seeing any emidiate damages, sighed and walked to the counter 'Hey, sorry about the lummox, thought he wouldnt walk around again..So what's the damage this time?' She sounded resigned, but perfectly willing to pay whatever damages incurred, seemingly used to her companions excentricities.

Hikari smiles and shakes her head at the Snorlax, half-outside at this point as the woman walks past her into the establishment, and though she appreciated the appreciation for helping the beasty outside, she didn't verbally respond right then and there, but instead keeps her attention on the pokemon enjoying his own dessert on the pavement outside. "I'm good, that was probably all the ice cream I should have eaten, anyway," she said. "You might not understand what it means, but having too many treats without real food isn't good for anyone, including me." Totally a normal conversation about a normal topic with a normal companion.

Persephone looks a little trapped at this point, not really sure what she's supposed to do in the midst of all this sudden goings-on, and feeling like she was going back to her anti-social self in the wake of that big group-gathering they'd just been a part of. With a small sigh, she reaches over to pick up the remainders of her and Hikari's dessert cups and walk them back to the counter, setting them to one side with a slight glance at the blue-haired woman now there, but without vocale offered as she returns to the door where Hikari is half-outside, but doesn't make any intent to leave yet; she hasn't paid, still, and there was one other thing, too.

Eri offers a businesslike smile and a short bow to the woman as she approaches the counter. "Ah, no..." she said. "Apparently Maru has seen him around before, but he's surprisingly careful... I think. He tries to be, but I suppose it can be difficult, not knowing your own strength." She glances over her shoulder toward a back room, then at the woman again. "Everything is okay! Nothing to worry about, from the looks of it. But, uhm... can I get you anything?" Her professionalism seems kind of shot at the moment, after everything that'd happened up to this point, so far.

The Snorlax huffs, as if there was such a thing as too much Ice Cream, let alone Treats. Still, mention of food caused him to Growl something loudly to his appearant owner. Whom merely waved a hand backwards without acknowledging it. 'Huh, no damage? He's getting better then..and yeah, we've been through Shrike before, and well, you saw how he acted? Imagine what you'd find if you left'em behind, so naturally the lummox comes along each time.' Another small hand gesture, and a tiny pouch appeared in her hand 'Just incase and for the interuption of your business from what it looks like, some compensation. If you find anything he did break that exceeds this, just contact the Inventor's Guild, and tell em to send the Bill to Wraith. Elya Wraith.'

Nodding pleasantly, the wiry woman moved back outside, frowning at the Snorlax. 'Now, what's this about food?' The beast for their part growled back, not threateningly, but as if actually conversing, pointing at the blond occasionally. Frowning, the woman shrugged 'Alright, I'll offer, doubt she wants anything, but sure.' Smiling pleasantly, she turned to the blond, who did seem faintly familiar to her. 'Hmm, well, the big lug here wants me to make you an offer. Name your 'real food' and if I got it on hand, consider it yours for sharing your meal with him.'

Persephone leans her head on the edge of the door, still held open considering Hikari's half-inside, half-outside. Something comes to her, though, when she realizes that the blue-haired woman has moved past her and is no longer inside, which means she's no longer at the counter. She takes that opportunity to turn around and head up to the counter, herself, so she can pay for their desserts and 'that other thing'. She speaks quietly to Eri in a hushed sort of tone, glancing over her shoulder at Hikari once during the conversation. She extracts her wallet from a coat pocket along the way, withdrawing what is likely a credit or debit card of some kind with which to provide payment.

Eri listens and responds in kind for her part in the conversation, and at one point, her eyes get a little wide, and her smile changes to a grin. "So that's what Maru was talking about," she said, a bit above-tone than she was probably supposed to, before Persephone hushes her for being too loud and she goes back into quiet mode again.

Hikari looks surprised at the offer, and waves a hand dismissively with an equivalent shake of her blonde-curled head. "Oh, no no," she denied. "I wasn't saying I wanted any food, I was just telling him that I didn't want any of his ice cream because I had some already. I'll eat when I get home, which will probably have to be pretty soon. My dad will be home from work pretty soon, and mom's going to want to hear all about my day, too." She seems to grin at the thought, like she was looking as forward to talking about it as her mom might be to hearing about it.

The Snorlax for their part huffed and growled, seeming displeased, and a further series of growling conversation took place. With the blue haired woman sighing but listening patiently. 'Yeah, he's not really taking 'no' for an answer. You willingly shared food with him, so he feels he needs to share something back. For a Snorlax, whatcha did was a pretty big deal.' Frowning thoughtfully as she tried to come up with a solution. 'How about a complimentary tub of ice cream to go? Your parents might enjoy it, and it only just passed inspection, so aint on the market for sale yet. Should start shipping it soon, the girls have been trying out flavours like crazy. ' she seemed resigned at this 'Some more successfull then others. and not all of them passed inspection let me tell ya.'

She considers this proposition for a moment, and, herself, isn't the kind of person who likes to leave offers unfulfilled, even if it wasn't really her intent to have made an offer in the first place. "Okay!" she said, cheerily. "That sounds fair. Mom actually does like ice cream. I don't think she's found a flavor she hasn't enjoyed, now that I think about it."

Persephone is still having important discussions inside, and at this point, it looks as though Maru's come back around and is engaged in said conversation, as well.

Nodding at having come up with a solution, the Snorlax seeming pleased at her side aswell. 'Alright, any particular requests. The girls as said made some pretty wild flavours..Though I doubt you'd want to try the Spicy ones. Ice cream should really not make you shoot flames out of your mouth when you eat it.' She commented, recollecting one of the testers who did just that. 'Though that might have just been a Nu thing...'

The Snorlax for their part, huffed, he'd rather enjoyed taste testing that batch, even if the Sampler was small enough not to really enjoy it. Considering the sweet, gentle blond, he growled his own recommendation of flavour choice.

Pondering it, Elya nodded along. 'Right, no telling what the more exotic flavours will do.' Another odd gesture of her hand, though up close a small tingle of spatial-magic might be felt, a more normal sized carton of Ice Cream appeared in her hand. 'Honey Cream with subtle sweet flavour, a definete favorite in all the taste testing sofar. ' A tap of her finger on the carton caused it to frost over '..There, should remain cold even outside a freezer for a good half-day like that.' Pondering a moment more, she put it in a mundane bag aswell, for ease of carrying.

She blinks in surprise at the sudden... just, conjuration of the offering, but significantly less-so at the follow-up frosting-over of it. "Oh, thanks!" she said, peering at it a little curiously before accepting it. "I actually didn't know ice cream came in this flavor, but it sounds like you're either a connoisseur or work in the industry, so I suppose that'd make sense that you see ones that none of the rest of us do." All of this, then, and complete strangers as well. "What do you go by, then?" She actually steps fully outside, glancing back at Persephone still on the interior as the door swings closed and hoping that she'll be fine without her for a few minutes longer.

'Hmm, ah thats right, name's Elya. Elya Wraith, and honestly, the Ice Cream is a bit of a new Thing.' She sighed, as if well used to explaining it all. 'Keep getting more girls, whom keep getting more Milk, so need to find new ways to process the stuff. Goodness knows I can only shift so much of the milk to town and not like anyone actually buys milk in bulk at the farm even if people love the brand. So, Cheese, happily, the girls loved experimenting on those, and Cheese atleast transports easier, ya know?' Again, a flick of her hand, and a small, waxed round cheese appears in her hand. 'Spicy is actually really good in the cheese mind you. But, more girls, more milk. So, Ice Cream, what with Summer coming along seeming like a good idea.'

She hears all of this, obviously, but waits until the end to verify her personal conclusion, and her grin widens a bit as a result. "Oh!" she said. "I see, you're a dairy farmer! That's pretty neat, a lot of people depend on you and others to help keep things moving along, and my dad's company isn't an exception to this rule, either. Thank you for all your hard work!" Whether she was accurate in her discernment or not is speculative, but that's the branch she's grabbed onto, at the very least. "I'm happy to meet you, Elya. I'm Hikari, and that's Persephone in there. I'm actually from out of town, and am just visiting for a while. I used to live here, so it's kind of a trip down memory lane, among other things."

Frowning thoughtfully, she took in the girls features and slapped one fist to another, putting it all together 'Wait a minute..lil Hikari! Knew I recognised something bout you. You wouldnt be old man Fukawa's Hikari would ya? I actually sold some patents to'im, though cant say I kept track of what all he did with em afterwards.' Blinking about how that sounded if she assume she was a farmer, the willowy woman clarified. 'Magical Engineer I think it was called in that meeting. Mostly though, I just tinker. Hell's Belles the farmwork mostly runs itself too. The girls are all Miltanks, so they mostly just need a hand shifting the milk, and a home.'

Her grin remains as Elya explains herself and mentions Hikari's parentage, as well. "Oh yeah, I figured as much," she said, conversationally. "When you mentioned ice cream, milk, cheese, and 'girls' all in the same breath, I was pretty sure they were either cows or Miltanks." She casts a side eye at the nearby Snorlax. "Since you have the big guy running around, I was impressed upon believing they were the latter rather than the former, too. It's kind of funny, I thought about being a Trainer when I was younger, but it didn't... work out." Her grin falters, but just barely, choosing not to dwell on past grievances at this time. "But that's okay. Pokemon are fantastic creatures and I learned a lot about what they're capable of, too."

She seemed to have gotten lost in that tangent, then, such that Elya's earlier revelation only just-then comes back to her. "Oh oh, sorry! Yes, that's me! I'm kind of my dad's little shadow at the company, helping with this and that, here and there. He has a lot of people he works with across all sorts of fronts, so I'm not surprised! Very few people he works with have bad things to say about his business dealings, and I've picked up a lot of business practices from him that I hope to employ one day when I take over the company, too."

'Well, if you change your mind about being a Trainer atleast, stop by Tonoe sometimes, got a lot of spare hands on the ranch, some might take a liking to ya, and follow you Home. ' Frowning thoughtfully, and thinking back, she grinned. 'And bring your Mom too, could always use someone willing to boldly try odd flavours.' Prodding the big guy in his side, her finger sinking into the thick pelt easily. 'Though only got the one Snorlax, but pretty sure there's others in the nearby area if you feel like exploring for one of your own given how ya charmed this big lug.' Glancing inside to the Redhead, she recalled something else the Snorlax had said. 'Think Red would want something too, big fella said she seemed a mite upset when he came 'round at first.'

The prospect of re-following up on attempted Trainer-dom seems to spark something in Hikari's eye as it is mentioned, but that spark is pretty quickly diluted for other reasons that aren't explicitly named. She opts to say nothing about it, probably for the same reasons she wouldn't open up to Dain or Persephone about them when the opportunity was there, too. "We'll have to see what happens," she offered instead. "Tonoe isn't too far away from my house, so I might find my way out there at some point, if even just to see what the process is like. And my mom would absolutely be thrilled to go, too, I can promise you that much."

She regards the Snorlax again, briefly, but quickly looks back at Elya before speaking up. "I wouldn't, no," she said, stifling a chuckle. "Persephone's just... like that. It's not a bad thing, she just has a hard time opening up to other people. I'm... working on it. But I think, if she's already a bit up-in-arms over it, I wouldn't insist or push. She's liable to just get more upset." She pauses, looking through the window inside toward Persephone and the other maids still gathered there. "I wouldn't take it personally. Some of our trials are just harder to overcome than others."

The Snorlax, for their part upended the last of his carton of ice cream, and blinked drowsily, before growling softly. 'Huh really, didnt know that. Big guy says there's plenty of lil Munchlax around the area.' Frowning thoughtfully, she held up a hand and conjured a minor illusion of the Pokemon, a littler ragged-y ursine shape, recognizable related to Snorlax, just even more cuddly. 'Hmm, so nothing for Red then, seems a mite unfair, but I guess sometimes nothin's the best ya can give someone.'

She smiles at the visual imagery and gives a small nod, looking like she was about to say something, but the comment about Persephone hits a little funny. "...Yeah," she said, after a moment. "Not always, but sometimes it is. Some people need to be left alone to brood when they're upset, but they bounce back. Persephone's one of those people that thinks everyone's better off at arm's length, but there's a reason for it. Like I said, I wouldn't take it personally, but if the reality is that if she doesn't want anything to do with you, presents are only going to make it worse. Sounds terrible, but it's the truth." She can't help but smirk at the prospect, frustrating as it might be.

Tapping her chin, the magical farm-girl shrugged. 'Eh, might aswell atleast check with her atleast before leaving you gals to your day out. Heck, she might want to smack the big fella once, he wouldnt feel it, and she'll feel better for that atleast, right.' Patting the Snorlax on the head, she prepared to head back into the shop. Before blinking 'Oh, and he likes ya, so he might try and give ya a hug. He's a very friendly fellow, but I'd still try to avoid it, you know how people say 'bear hug', well, imagine that scaled up. He doesnt mean any harm, he just really doesnt know how frail some things are, ya know?' With those reassuring warning words, she went inside.

Glancing around inside, Elya walked over to the redhead, hands held up placatingly .'Hey Red, the big lug told me he startled ya. So sorry about that, anything I can do to make it up for it? If it helps, I usually slug him one to chastise the fella.'

Outside the Snorlax meanwhile, huffed at the warning and just patted the blond on the head again without moving from their seated position, he Knew not to Hug people just fine!

She doesn't really seem too enthused with Elya's insistence, but then, maybe some people just needed to find things out the hard way. On the other hand, Hikari, actually, does not mind social interaction or potential hugging of large pokemon that may result from said interaction, and with a giggle, she goes to throw her arms around the Snorlax, in spite of the warnings. "I don't see too many of you around, and I didn't get to hug the last one!" she chirps. "I'm glad you enjoyed the dessert, and I wouldn't let her get to you. Some of us just aren't 'people' persons. Or pokemon-persons, for that matter."

At this time, Persephone has finished being rung up for her bill, but in the aftermath of whatever discussion it was that followed, she also appears to have procured a fairly large, opaque white bag that is nearly as tall as she is, and is being held at the top by what looks like a clothes hanger. Now in post-discussion about mundane things, she turns around halfway as she is addressed, raising an eyebrow in mild concern at the person she assumes is associated with that dumb beast outside. That... Hikari appears to be hugging. What the hell, man? Though, at least, 'Red' was a nickname she wasn't put out by, so she'd give the woman some bonus points for at least that much. "It's fine," she said, trying not to sound more annoyed than was her usual. "I don't want anything, though. My friend and I are going to be heading out soon, anyway." She inclines her head slightly at the offer of violence, a small frown making its way onto her face. "I don't.. really hit things unless I intend on actually injuring them. That's not really an okay offer to make, but I guess everyone handles things differently."

Huffing, the Snorlax enthusiasticly wraps their arms around the blond, but true to his words doesnt realign her spinal vertebra, or anything alike, merely hugging her snugly, warmly and, perhaps a smidge too tightly. Their fur smelled surprisingly well cared for and was exceptionally Fluffy and soft due to its inherent thickness.

Shrugging, the blue haired woman seemed nonplussed. 'Your friend said as much, that ya wouldnt need anything. Still only seemed fair to offer. As to slugging him one..you're not really familiar with Snorlax are ya?' Waving a hand dismissively. 'But fair enough, just thought I'd offer. And its less about hurting, and more about correcting him, but again, not going to bug ya about their training.'

"Yeah, no," she said, shaking her head. "Hitting people, pokemon or otherwise, is a bad idea. Gotten in too much trouble for it to associate it any other way, but I guess I appreciate the offer. Sorta." She looks back through the window again, then at Maru, still on the other side of the counter. "I think I'm good, Maru," she said in a finalizing way. "Thanks for everything, and I'll try not to be a stranger, 'kay?"

Maru smiles openly and gives a very formal bow. "Okiotsukete okaeri kudasai, kuroi ojou-sama!" she said with all due pleasantry. She straightens, still smiling. "Make sure to bring Fukawa-san back with you next time, too, okay?"

She's actually made of tougher stuff than she looks, and giggles as she gets squeezed, but eventually relents. "I have to get going, though," she said. "Make sure you take care of your trainer so she can continue taking care of all the rest of you, too, okay? Thanks for stopping by!" She seems genuine in her gratitude, whether or not the 'stopping by' was intentional or otherwise.

The Snorlax huffs and gives a suitably grave nod and growls agreeably. He was afterall all too happy to stick with his caretaker and her odd ranch. Rising to his feet, he pulled the blond along with him in a casual display of strength, strong arms encircling her before with delicate precision placing her back on her own feet. More growls and a few more headpats followed, as the blond was just that Cute as far as the Snorlax was concerned, so few people willingly shared food with such cheer!

Moving outside, Elya for her part caught the end of the hug, and eyed Hikari critically, as if assessing the state of her ribs and spine, before grunting amusedly 'Looks like the new excersizes are paying off, you're finally learning big guy.' Shaking her head amusedly, she for a moment considers reprimanding the blond, but well, Snorlax's were giant teddybears, and the risk was fairly minimal, so she couldnt blame the girl for wanting to hug the lug.

She gives it a moment, watching out the window to see the proceedings take place before she also withdraws from the dessert shop, stepping aside so as not to be in the doorway.

She giggles at the attention being afforded her by the Snorlax, but then turns around at the voice behind her, looking up toward Elya and then, subsequently, Persephone making their exit from the cafe. "He's cute," she said, simply. "I hope you two have a safe trip back home, and I'll see about paying a visit to Tonoe at some point, when I have more free time."

'Took a lot of effort to get him this far, but he grows on ya, thats for sure.' Nudging the Snorlax in the side hard enough to draw a small 'oof' from the ursine beast she grinned teasingly at him. 'Come on big guy, stop flirting, and lets be off, her friend needs some time with her too afterall. As to the visit, most everyone in town can either tell ya directions, or I usually visit town for deliveries most days around midday.'

She smiles happily. "I had hoped as much," she said, and offered a wave. "Ja ne!"

She shifts her weight slightly, leaning back against the doorframe while she waits for her curly-haired friend to allow the others to depart before they discuss what happens next. At least nothing broke during this encounter, emotionally or physically. But still, what was it with her luck and pokemon, lately? It boggled the mind. Or, it boggled her mind, anyway.

Waving cheerfully to the blond, and giving a small courtious nod to the Redhead, Elya half-dragged the Snorlax along as she headed back to the park, the Snorlax for their part mugged a broad, goofy grin and waved equally at both girls, more then content to let his caretaker take care of most of his actual motion after having eaten his fill for the moment.

She waits a moment for the blue-haired one and her goofy, oversized fuzzball to make their peace and head out before regarding Hikari, still leaning back against the doorframe in an idle stance. "You know," she said, "that's kind of what I was talking about earlier. Things like that, just now; it's so weird to think of you as anything other than bright, cheerful, helpful, nice, and all those other things you associate with flowers and roses and sunny days and everything in-between. I'm still seeing the fear in that other girl's eyes and can't quite seem to get it out of my mind that you'd have such an impact on anyone like that."

She watches Elya and her fuzzy companion head out for a few moments, then turns around as Persephone speaks to her, holding the bag of her earlier shopping acquisitions idly in one hand. She grins in response to the accusations, not allowing any sort of erstwhile-conspiratorial concepts show anywhere on her face. "At some point, everyone develops a skunk stripe," she simply states. "I'm just glad to be who I am, now, instead of who I was, then." Her eyes shift looking toward the tall bag that Persephone is holding by the hook of a... coat hanger? Her grin fades, but only into blatant curiosity. "You didn't have that when we went inside," she pointed out. "Did you have to stop at the dry cleaners today, too?"

She smirks, apparently waiting for the little blonde fish to take the first bite. "Nope," she said, hoisting it up a little bit. "I got you something while you weren't looking. I'm not gonna pretend like I'm the smartest cell in the energy pack, but I'm pretty aware of things, most times, and I had a feeling you might like something like this. They wouldn't even charge me for it, as much as I offered." She holds the opaque bag out toward Hikari. "Go ahead."

Practically boiling over with curiosity at this point, Hikari sets her bag down on the pavement so she can reach out and accept the one from Persephone, which feels like it's just a little taller than she is. Noticing a zipper running down one side of the bag, she holds the hook with one hand and carefully glides the zipper down to see what is inside... and only makes it about halfway when her hand stops, as the top flap of the bag folds outward to partially reveal a plastic-sealed package inside. 'Freaking out' might've been a good phrase to use, at that point.

It's a maid's ensemble, exactly like the one that Maru and Eri were wearing inside the store. Everything from the blue coloration on the dress, the ruffled sleeves, the lace trim, and even the blue socks and frilly headband, its all there, carefully folded up and sealed in a plastic package that dangles from the clothes hanger poking out the top of it. The only thing missing appears to be the shoes.

Hikari just stares at it, mouth slightly open, no words coming to mind to express what she's feeling at the moment.

Persephone looks so absolutely pleased with herself at that moment, and regrets not having her phone already out and ready so that she could get a picture of Hikari's expression to show her later. Totally worth it.

It takes her a good quarter-minute or so to get her thoughts back into place enough to provide the mental framework necessary for speech. She carefully re-zips it back up, without needing to see the rest of it, and doesn't take her eyes off of the exterior. "Was I... that obvious about it?" she asks, unable to keep from grinning to herself at that point.

"Oh yeah," she said, folding her arms across her chest. "It would have been cruel not to get it for you, with the look you had in your eyes every time one of them came out." She nods at the bag. "I gauged your size based on Maru and Eri's, when you were standing next to each other for the picture, and I'm pretty sure you and Maru are about the same size and proportion, give or take maybe an inch or so. It doesn't come with shoes, though, but I'm sure you'll be able to figure those out with no issues. They have extras in the back for new employees, but when I mentioned possibly parting with one for your sake, they almost wanted to make it seem like it was their idea." She laughs a little bit.

She's still grinning from ear to ear, but looks up at Persephone at some point. One would have a hard time finding a happier twenty-one-year-old anywhere in the Cleft, at that moment. "This is amazing, and I don't know what to say..." she said. "'Thank you' is obvious, but that seems kind of... insignificant, really. This is beyond anything I was expecting out of today, and really, just getting to hang out with you and do, you know, whatever, was plenty enough for me."

Not letting the appreciation go to her head too much, Persephone instead goes to reach into her pocket for her phone, but somehow manages to check the wrong side of her coat, and instead hits her fingers on the small charm she'd purchased from earlier, completely forgetting it was there. The look on her face flashes accordingly to that realization. "Oh... actually, I--" she starts to say, but doesn't get the chance to finish that statement.

"Well, since you had to go and do that," Hikari interrupts, not seeming to either hear or realize that Persephone was trying to say something as she carefully drapes the bag over the top of her other bag of purchases from earlier, "I guess I ought to come clean about hidden surprises, too." She reaches into one of her pockets at that point, in the front of her jeans, and withdraws something that crinkles like the sound of plastic, but keeps it covered in both hands. She grins coyly up at Persephone. "Hopefully you weren't thinking you were going to get out of this with something to take back home from me, were you?"

Persephone wasn't expecting this curveball, and it shows pretty easily on her face. "What?" she asks, letting her folded arms fall back to her sides. "I didn't... I mean, I didn't get you that just because..." She knows what she wants to argue about, but can't seem to really find the right way to express it. "I don't really think I need anything, Hikari."

That rabbity look on her face doesn't fade despite Persephone's protests. "Nope," she said, affirmingly. "I guarantee you'll like this, whether you think you do or not. And if you don't take it, then I won't leave, and you'll have to set me up on the couch or something for the night, then call my parents to explain that I forced you to kidnap me because you wouldn't accept a present from me. And if I know anything about you, that's probably pretty far outside your comfort zone, right?" That lack of seriousness in her tone doesn't really match up with the look on her face, but that's okay.

Her brow furrows, trying to figure out the mechanics of Hikari's threat. How does one force..? Hell, nevermind, that one wasn't worth even trying to find logic in. "Alright, alright," she said. "If that's what you want, I'll give."

Pleased with herself over her small victory, Hikari beams. "Good!" she said. "So, now you have to close your eyes."

Persephone doesn't close her eyes, but she does raise an eyebrow over one of them. "What?"

Hikari mock-pouts. "You promised!" she whines, still holding whatever it is cupped in both hands, out of sight.

Persephone rolls her eyes, but puts some effort into trying not to be a total spoilsport, for the sake of Hikari obviously being pretty invested in... whatever this was supposed to be. She settles for, like, 40% spoilsport, instead. "Okay, yeah, fine," she said with a sigh, and dutifully closes her eyes. "Just tell me when you're done."

Her pout reverts into that earlier grin, and she quickly slips around behind Persephone. Bringing her hands apart but then back together, she realizes that their height difference actually makes this super easy on her, as she carefully but methodically wraps something around Persephone's neck and then hooks it together at the back and under her bright orange braids, letting go and stepping back once the adornment is secured. She remains behind Persephone at this point, putting her hands together in front of herself. "Okay!" she said. "Go ahead!"

She's feeling a little weird about this, especially when she feels something like cold metal being looped around her neck and then her hair being played with, but she holds herself in check, waiting for the all-clear before opening her eyes. At Hikari's confirmation, her eyes flick open and then down to see what it was that she'd put around her throat. She figured it was probably a necklace or pendant or something from the way it had been placed on her, and the hesitation spiked because she really wasn't much for jewelry, either for person embellishment or practical purposes, because it was kind of dangerous to have rings or dangling jewelry in fights. Then again, with as long as Persephone's hair was, that argument wouldn't really hold a candle to anything; it basically screamed 'grab me' to whoever she was facing off with at any point.

It was a pendant of some kind, maybe even a locket, based on the thickness of it. Set at the apex of a silver chain, it was a dark-colored crescent halfway between the 'half' and 'new' phases of a moon, and had a very shiny and polished surface that reminded her of onyx. At the top and bottom points of this crescent were little white clouds that were decoratively-adhered to the moon-shape, partially blocking out the moon itself from the upper-most and lower-most fourths. On closer inspection, there was a tiny hinge on the wide side of the crescent, indicating that her earlier guess of it being a locket was probably correct, but she didn't open it then. She really wasn't much for jewelry, honestly, but this was actually kinda cool-looking. And, like, she never really got presents from anyone (though her instant denial didn't help that cause very much), and now that she had actually, willingly accepted it, it made her feel kind of warm inside. Just a little. Just a smidge.

But then, something else jolted her mind after she realized what it was, and a small frown filtered onto her features. She remembered the charm she'd bought for Hikari, and what it was. How in the actual fuck was this a coincidence? Like, there was no way. She had to ask, just to be sure, because something in the back of Persephone's brain was suddenly wondering if Hikari had seen her make that purchase, earlier. "This is... actually, really nice," she said, a bit slowly as she tried to keep the suspicion out of her voice. "Where did you get this..?"

She tips head head back a little ways, still standing behind Persephone and unaware of her expression, but the imagination she has and Persephone's tone are working pretty well for her to get a pretty good idea without needing to see it. "I made it," she said, openly and simply.

Those three words hit Persephone with enough force that she actually had to adjust her footing a little bit for her sudden center-of-balance shifting. "You... you made this..?" she said, not hiding the incredulity from her voice. "But it's really..." She didn't really know the right way to finish that sentence, because she didn't want to sound rude and make Hikari assume that her crafting skills were being called into question, but the higher point of the matter was that Persephone's consideration on the coincidence regarding her own purchase was smashed to bits at that point. It literally was just happenstance.

Really. Fucking. Weird. Happenstance.

She gives Persephone a moment, pretty proud of herself over the fact that Persephone is having trouble finding words. Or, at least she hoped that was meant to be a positive thing, anyway. "Do you like it?" she asked, after a few measures of pause between them.

She did like it, actually. She liked it... a lot more than she probably, normally would have outwardly admitted. "Yeah," she said. "I kinda do, actually. I'm, like... not big on jewelry, really." She glances aside, not able to see Hikari from her vantage point but not turning around just yet, either. "Never really saw myself as the.. you know, the 'girly' type. Nothing really ever felt like it looked good on me. But I could wear this, I think."

She reaches up toward the back of Persephone's neck, adjusting the back side of the chain just a little bit. "I started on it shortly after you left the get-together I had for everyone, after the Festival," she explained, stepping back once more. "Even mom and dad don't know about it. It was a top secret project that I wanted to work on without anyone knowing about it. I had a lot of thoughts going on, while I was putting it together. 'Symbolism' isn't really a big thing for me, but I'm seeing it in certain things, lately, and an image came to mind while I was drawing up ideas. I felt bad for everything you had to go through, all the time, and you couldn't seem to bring yourself out of it except for maybe a little bit, during the Festival of Lights." She smiles, recalling. "It sounds weird to admit, maybe, coming from me, but I still remember the first time you actually smiled and meant it. Seeing you intentionally happy was a super rare thing after three years of only seeing each other for a week or so apiece, and I thought that if I made you something, maybe I'd get to see it again, someday."

Hikari idly fiddles with the ribbon-laced length of hair at her fore. "There's clouds there, over the moon, because there's always something trying to block out the light when we're just trying to live our lives and give it our best. But mom used to tell me something when I was little, and I felt like it was perfect to apply to that image, there; she told me that the moon always shines brightest when something's trying to hide it, and even if you can't see it because the clouds are in the way, it's still there, underneath. I kind of feel that way about you, Sephie." She pauses, her smile widening a bit. "It feels like there's so much blocking your light that nobody can really see it, but it's still there, somewhere underneath. Maybe only a certain few people actually get to see it, when it comes out. And I'm glad to be one of those few, when it happens."

She takes a breath. "I was looking forward to hanging out today, I'm not going to pretend I wasn't," she said. "But the truth is that I was mostly looking for a reason to get that to you. So I guess it worked out for everybody in the end, huh?"

Persephone is silent, holding the locket-necklace in her hand and kind of running it along her fingers as her mind processes all this information at a pace that is comfortable for her. The 'symbolism' concept was kind of funny, in a way, because her mom had bits of it here and that that she'd tried to get Persephone to latch onto, while trying to deal with the self-loathing she had regarding her tail. It was around that time that she also discovered that, because of her genetic issue, she couldn't transform into an Oozaru, either; she'd tried, and her mom had tried to figure out what was wrong, but they eventually chalked it up to being a defect that was probably related to her tail in some way, since there wasn't really any other explanation. And, really, this didn't bother Persephone much, because the concept of turning into a massive fucking monkey and destroying shit for no reason in a blind rage was...

...well, honestly, it sounded pretty fucking cool. But like, in an un-fun and un-cool way. She had mixed views on the matter, but that wasn't really the point.

To that end, the irony, of all things, that Hikari would give her a charm involving the moon was really, actually, super amusing, in a real, actual, super sad way. But she definitely wasn't going to tell her that, and it didn't make her appreciate it, or the gesture behind it, any less.

Another jarring aspect of this whole thing is that her mom had, with no small amount of aggressive frustration on Persephone's part, considered her tail to be Persephone's 'light in the darkness,' from time to time. Persephone had always assumed her mom was just grasping at straws for ways to try and get her to accept and embrace it as part of herself, but it didn't really take and only pissed her off even more. Having this come back up again, albeit on different terms, gave her mixed feelings on the notion, and further questioned her perspective reality on how coincidental all of this shit seemed to be turning up as, lately. Like, someone was out there, pulling strings, somewhere.

"I really appreciate it," she eventually said, still facing away from Hikari. "Like... I don't express myself very well, and I don't need to tell you that, of all people. I'm not good at accepting things, which is probably why I turn them all down immediately, so that I don't have to deal with figuring out how to handle myself in the wake of accepting things. Especially something as big a deal as this. It's just really hard for me." As hard as it was, though, it was also really fucking nice to be able to just let some of this out and not have to worry about sounding sappy or being judged for actually having, like... emotions, on things. This was really weird, and Persephone, at her core, was having a difficult time actively determining how she was supposed to feel about it. About all of it. About any of it.

"I'm really happy with it, though," she said. "I promise."

Hikari lowers her eyes, but then a thought comes to her and she actually laughs, a short little 'hee hee' sort of sound. "Hey," she said, turning the subject on its ear, "you know I don't care if you swear around me, right?"

The abrupt change of topic in the heat of everything that she was presently investing herself in brought a fresh round of surprise to Persephone, so much so that she actually turns around so that she can regard Hikari with that surprise, but also with caution and maybe a bit of concern. "Why would you bring that up, all of a sudden?" she asked.

She smiled, a familiar smile that was pretty much what she was known for. "Because I don't want you to be anyone but yourself," she said, plainly. "I don't want you to walk on eggshells around me because you're afraid of upsetting or hurting me in some way. I told you earlier that I'm tougher than I look. I can handle a 'fuck' here or a 'shit' there as well as the next person. Just because I don't use expletives doesn't mean you need to hold them in, for my sake." She leans her head a ways off to one side, curls falling sidelong with them. "I get the feeling that you're already holding in a lot, for my sake, aren't you? Please don't. Just be 'Persephone' around me, okay?"

Actually hearing those words come out of cute little prim-and-proper Hikari's mouth was... something else, and not necessarily in a comfortable way. "Huh," she said. "I mean, I guess I was trying to tone down the sailor-speak a little bit while your ears are present. Kind of developed it as a bad habit from when I was pretty young, and it wasn't my mom's favorite thing, either. But it's a good vent for getting those frustrations out when you can't just punch someone in the face. Swearing for the sake of swearing just feels a little... I dunno, wrong, I guess, around you. I still have a hard time getting the 'perfect little angel' visual out of my head, where you're concerned, and I just subconsciously react accordingly."

She looks a little smug about something, then, but decides not to elaborate on it. "Well," she said, "maybe you can work on shaking yourself out of those 'visuals'. And speaking of which, sorta, there's still one other thing I didn't tell you about, yet!"

"Huh?" she huh'd, figuring like the big revelations were pretty much over at this point. "What's up, now?"

That smug look remains. "Did you see the back of it?" she asked. "Turn it around, there should be something there."

She had, in fact, not seen the back of it. Curiously, Persephone reached up to her neck and spun the locket around, and was given a display of two very small buttons, one blue and one red, fixed into the otherwise-smooth surface of the trinket's backside. "...Should I ask?" she inquired.

Again, still smug. "Push the red one!" Hikari said, with a bit of excitement seeping in.

A little bit of wariness crosses her face at all of this now being given to her and the lack of explanation to go along with it, but... "Alright," she said, and with the tip of one finger, she does press down on the tiny red button. The locket suddenly begins to get really warm in her hands at that point and is accompanied by a loud buzzing sound, and before she can panic over what's actually going on, a flash of light envelopes her sight and blots everything else out, and she is suddenly gone!

Hikari busts out laughing, right there at the end of Boston Avenue, with at least one or two people casting side-glances in her direction over whatever is or isn't going on.

She allows herself a few moments to enjoy the hilarity of the moment, but then reaches into the back pocket of her jeans to pull out her phone. Before she even gets a chance to do anything with it, it suddenly begins ringing in her hands, and she giggles loudly as she taps to receive the call, putting it to her ear. "Hey!" she said. "Wasn't that great? What do you think?"

Persephone's voice actually sounds pretty upset on the other end. "What the hell was that!?" she said, making good progress on dropping the foul-language charade she'd been holding up to this point. "You could've warned me! Why am I in Viorar? What was that?"

She tries really hard, but she fails to suppress another laugh at Persephone's expense. "Calm down, Sephie," she said between giggles. "We can get you back. Just push the blue button on it, right under the red one."

Hikari gives it a moment, and when Persephone doesn't respond, she lowers the phone and hangs up, assuming that everything will be fine at this point.

Hikari's not incorrect, as an abrupt blue light suddenly forms right in the spot Persephone just was, taking on an energy-based silhouette of her form before materializing completely as she'd been before, phone still in hand.

Persephone blinks a few times, readjusting to her returned surroundings. She's frowning something fierce, though. "You really need to warn me about stuff like that, Hikari," she complained. "Things like that spike my anxiety like you wouldn't believe."

Still far-too-pleased with herself, Hikari holds a hand up to her mouth to hide further smirkage. "Yeah, sorry about that," she said, though her sincerity is questionable. "It was too good of a chance to pass up. But what do you think? After hearing that exchange between you and the guy down at Nakajima, it felt like that just became even more important than it already was, and I didn't even know!"

Taking a moment to calm herself down, what actually happened begins to register to her. "So, like..." she inclines, giving Hikari a still-concerned-but-not-as-much-as-before look. "Did this thing just send me to Viorar? It was way out of the way in some back alley. I had a major freakout when I could see again, since I had no clue what was going on or what happened."
April 11, 2024

"Yup!" she said, happily. "What I really wanted to do was get you the same chip that dad installed in my phone so that you could come and see me whenever you wanted, too. But it's still in the really-early testing phases, and that's probably not a good idea, plus I'd have to have asked my dad, which would have spoiled the surprise I was working on, because I'd then have to tell him why I needed it. So, instead, I used a different chip and installed it myself." She reaches out and pokes the front of the locket just below Persephone's neck. "This one's still not all the way ready for mass-marketing yet, but it's passed enough testing that I kind of snuck it out when nobody was looking so I could use it for this. It works almost along the same lines, but has a little less focus on tracking a target's spatial coordinates in real time and more about being pre-set to a specific location. I fixed it to a really out-of-the-way place in Viorar that we could make sure nobody would ever be around, that way when you go there, you won't have to worry about dropping in on anyone who might be standing around. Then, when you're ready to go back, it sends you right back to where you were, because the same chip registers your spatial coordinates when you leave, the first time, and then recalls them when you go back, and removes them from memory right afterward."

The little tech-girl beams proudly. "The ooooonly catch is that its a huge drain because it doesn't have much capacity for a charge and it's still a working prototype, essentially. So you can only do one "leave and return" once every twenty-four hours, before it'll recharge enough to be able to do it again. Which means you're stuck here until this time tomorrow, at the very minimum!" She looks up at Persephone, still pleased. "This means that if you did want to come and visit, you'd have a lot less traveling involved, since my house is only about an hour's walk north from Viorar's north gate."

Like, Persephone understands the basic idea of what it is and how it works, but the whole 'spatial coordinates' thing and everything else is just... nah, nope. Not her thing. But it was easy enough to understand; one free trip to Viorar and back, once every twenty-four hours. That... is... like, ultra-handy, actually.

...Maybe a little too handy, in fact. Persephone raises an eyebrow at Hikari's smug face, as something dawns on her. "You set this up just so I could have an easier time getting to your house?" she asked. "That makes it sound like you did this almost as much for yourself as you did for me."

Stiiiill smug. "Would I really do that, Sephie?" Hikari asked, with absolutely-failed attempts at innocence.

Persephone can't help herself, at this point. She laughs a genuine, good-natured laugh. It really had been a good day, but in, like, the weirdest fucking way possible. She got the feeling that most 'hangout sessions' probably didn't amount to what happened today, but that was probably fine.

She suddenly remembers something, at that moment. "Oh, right..." she said, reaching into her coat pocket. "Actually, I should probably let you get going so you can bring your, uh... ice cream and maid dress home, and those other things you bought. But, like... there's one more thing, too."

Hikari smiles real big. "Do I get a hug, too!?" she asked immediately and presumptively.

She cracks a smirk. "I mean, I guess so," she said, playing it off. "But that wasn't what I meant." Without a lot of fanfare or prelude, she withdraws the little sun-shaped trinket-necklace that she bought back at the department store. "So, like... the dress was a thing because it was me jumping on something I already knew you liked. But I saw this back in the store, which means I kinda lied when you asked if I bought anything." Persephone looks more than a little uncomfortable. "This feels really awkward after the necklace-thing you just gave me, and I'm sure you'll guess why when you see it. I'm not big on Japanese stuff or anything, but I did find out what your name means. And, like, this kinda jumped out at me when I saw it, so I got it and thought maybe you might like it." She holds it out toward Hikari, palm flat. "It's really not a big deal or anything."

She looks at the offering in silent curiosity, then reaches out and claims it from Persephone's hand so she can look at it up close, slowly acquiring the biggest, stupid grin on her face as what she said, coupled with the adornment in question, fits together. Rather than actually gush about any of it, she holds her hand back out toward Persephone, offering the object back to her. "Would you put it on me, then?" she asked.

She wasn't really sure what kind of response to expect, but that must not've been high on the list because she didn't response for a moment, just looking at the outstretched hand back in her direction before it clicked. "..Oh!" she said, realizing. "Yeah, sure. One sec." She reaches out and accepts the trinket back, taking a moment to remove it from the plastic packaging within which it is contained.

For those moments that follow, Hikari simply turns an about-face to make Persephone's job easier, and reaches back to hold her hair up and away from her neck. "Mom's gonna have a field day when I get home and sees all the new stuff I brought with me," she mused.

Persephone pulls the little necklace free and lengthens it out to make sure the chain, flimsy and essentially-worthless as it is, is without knots or other kinks. Easily enough, though, she loops it around the span of Hikari's neck and ensures that it is facing the right way as she hooks it together in the back. It is at this point that she also happens to notice Hikari's sweater-style and the fact that it seems to have a really massive neckhole, such that it is hanging off of one shoulder. "Did you stretch out your shirt or something?" she asked, offhanded. "It looks like you could fit three heads through that hole."

She laughs a short little laugh. "Oh, no," she said, amused. "It's supposed to be like that. Just, uh... you know, trends. I'm not going to try and explain it, some things just are how they are."

"Huh," she said. "I guess so. Kinda weird, but maybe I've just got no fashion sense." She steps back. "There you go, I think that's on there okay. Just, maybe, don't pull on it too hard, if you can help it. I don't suspect it's really made to take much of a beating."

With a big smile, she turns around so that she's facing Persephone, and beams at her with her neck adornment in place. "I actually really like this," she said. "It kind of feels... oddly fitting, sort of." The sunlight from the late afternoon catches reflectively across the shiny plastic surface of the childish little sun-shape now displayed at the neckline of her sweater, with the little linked sun-arms dangling loosely around the main, golden sphere in the middle."

Persephone jumped on that shit immediately. "See!" she stressed. "That's what I was trying to point out when I saw what it was that you gave me! Doesn't it seem kinda weird? Like how did it even turn out like this?"

Hikari thinks for a second, but then grins again. "Maybe we're in an anime or a manga or something!" she suggests. "It feels like this kind of thing happens all the time in them, doesn't it?"

Persephone just gives Hikari a blank stare for a few seconds.

"I mean..." Hikari said, without an ounce of sheepishness. "It's possible, right?"

"You read too many comic books," Persephone dismissed. "It just struck me as kind of weird, but I guess maybe these things just happen, sometimes. Strange luck, I guess."

"Yeah, probably," she said, with an exaggerated sigh. "I guess that's too much to hope for, isn't it?" Her grin remains, though, despite the fact. "But anyway, I guess I should probably get going. This was way too much fun for one day, and I'm already looking forward to the next time. Don't make me--oh! Oh oh oh! I almost forgot! Gosh!" Hikari suddenly gets really excited. "I would've been so upset if I didn't remember! There's a thing going on next month, Sephie! Would you go with me if I did, like, 'the eyes'?" Her excitement is preventing her from relaying some of the details she probably needs to be giving, and she's practically bouncing in place.

"Uh..." Persephone puts a hand on her hip. "Chill, there, a sec. What 'thing'?"

"A reason for me to wear the new dress you just got me!" Hikari exults, not calming down in the least. "There's a cosplay convention going on next month at some place in Truce! Uh.. what was it, the 'Rabite's Promise' or something? I guess they just opened up an event center as an expansion recently, and they're holding a two-day cosplay event! I just heard about it a few days ago and I can't wait! Will you go, too? Please?"

She considers for a second, but the small frown on her face isn't super encouraging. "Like..." she thinks, "...like getting dressed up in costumes? I've heard of 'cosplay' before, but like, I don't know any details or anything. It sounds like Halloween, but... not."

"Yeah!" Hikari effused. "That's pretty close! But it's not just for kids. I mean, there will probably be kids there, too, but it's for adults, too!" She paused for a second, which was probably very difficult for her. "If... you know, if you don't have a costume, would it persuade you any further if I made one for you? We could go together, then! I'm gonna wear my maid outfit for one of the days, but then I've got a different one for the other day, and mom and I can make one for you to go with it." Her eyes are really big at this point. "Would you be okay with that? Maybe?"

Her first reaction was a pretty stout 'no way' for something like that, especially with other kids around. Hikari's pleading wasn't... really helping as much as the other girl thought it might, and the idea really wasn't super comfortable for Persephone. But... if she was really trying to be less of a damn introvert, maybe this was a good opportunity. Like, she really didn't want to admit that it was a good opportunity, but it was there, all the same.

With a sigh and no small amount of personal regret and hesitation, Persephone gave a small nod. "Sure," she agreed, with heavy reluctance. "I guess so."

"Aaahh I didn't even have to give you 'the eyes'!" Hikari yelped, and like some kind of superpowered magnet, she attached herself to Persephone in the biggest hug she's given anyone in a long time. "Thank you! I promise it'll be fun! I'll make sure it'll be fun! And others will probably be there, too! Like Mollianne!" She squeezed her friend fondly, this agreement apparently being the cherry on top of what was a very decadent ice-cream-scoop-of-a-day.

Persephone grunts from the sudden attachment and actually steps back a pace from the impact, but... smirks, in spite of all this. "Yeah, yeah," she said, kind of.. awkwardly patting the top of Hikari's head, like she doesn't know what else she's supposed to be doing. Hugging wasn't really her strong point, unless it was a grapple or something. "One of these times I'm going to tell you 'no' and you're not going to know what to do with yourself."

Hikari giggled. "Maybe!" she said, pulling herself free. "But until then, I'm probably just going to keep taking advantage of you, so maybe you might want to get working on that." She turned around and went to go claim her things. "I'll send you more details when we get closer, and we'll probably have you over for a fitting session, obviously. But I'll keep in touch, so don't worry about it too much yet."

She rubbed the back of her neck in an idle gesture, her hand brushing across the chain now looped there, and peers down at the moon charm situated at the base of her neck. That was going to take some getting used to. "Okay, that works," she said.

Hikari withdraws her phone from her pocket, and punches in a few things. "I have to make sure mom isn't near anything so that I can come back without destroying a cabinet or the sink or something, since she's probably in the kitchen working on dinner right around now," she mused, looking up. "Thanks again for today, Sephie. It was super-ultra great, and you're a lot of fun to hang out with. I hope we get to do it again before the convention!"

Actually being told that her presence was enjoyable struck a weird chord for Persephone, and she wasn't quite sure how to handle it. "Ah," she muttered, "yeah. We'll see what we can do. Keep me posted on things, okay?"

Hikari nods real big. "Sure!" she piped, then waves with her free hand. "I'll see you later, Sephie!" And, still in the process of waving, A brilliant beam of blue light overtakes Hikari and all her stuff, zipping her away somewhere else and leaving her space empty and devoid of any object or person.

Persephone remains where she is for a moment or four, considering the day's events in the way she usually did after something big happened and she needed to piece it all together. But then something else suddenly came to her, and she realized that she was going to ask Hikari a question, but forgot. "Ugh, damn it," she cursed to herself. Persephone pulled out her phone real quick, bringing up her message history with Hikari and tap-tapping in a quick question. "Hey, I forgot to ask you something. What does 'Kuroi ojou-sama' mean? They keep calling me that at the café and I'm curious as to what it means." She mashed 'send' and waited for a response. They'd used that.. whatever-it-was almost the whole length of time she'd been going there, but just accepted it as a weird quirk of the place. But when Hikari came along and they didn't call her the same thing, it suddenly occurred to Persephone that it might have been directed at her, specifically, instead of a broad Japanese-centric greeting, or whatever, to any customer that came in.

It takes a few minutes, but eventually a ping! sounds on Persephone's phone to indicate a response from Hikari. "Oh, you didn't know what she was saying? I was wondering about that, it seemed like a weird nickname, but I thought maybe you just had a 'thing' going on, or something. It basically means 'Black Lady', or 'Black Princess', or something similar. An 'ojou' is essentially a lady of noble standing, so you can equate that however you want from there."

Persephone reads over the text, and at the end of it, she looks... less than happy. In fact, she looks pretty annoyed. She glances up from her phone, then back at the café, it suddenly registering upon her where else she's heard that, and she gets pissed off in a relative hurry as a result. "...Are you fucking kidding me? Seriously?"