315/Shop Smart... Shop s-- FaM-Mart

Shop Smart... Shop s-- FaM-Mart
Date of Scene:	27 August 2023
Location:	FaM-Mart
Synopsis:	Mie meets Coco at the FaM-Mart and they strike up a conversation. All in all, it goes well.
Cast of Characters:	Mie Kitamura, Coco Kiumi

---

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    One of Mie's favorite places to be in the human world is FaM-Mart. This is because FaM-Mart has a wide variety of human snacks, the kinds of which are absent in both the Bad End Kingdom and Marchenland. I mean, sure, Marchenland has chocolate, but they don't have //any// flavors of Kit-Kats, whereas FaM-Mart has at least twelve.

    And Mie is going to try them all.

    Mie's little shopping basket is full of all sorts of sweets, with a bento box thrown in for some variety, and she's currently eyeing the beverage section, trying to figure out what kind of drink she should try next.

    "Hm. Do I take the Kimchee flavored Coolpis, or this 'Final Fantasy Potion.'" She narrows her eyes at this last. "I like this idea of no more fantasies. I shall try this one." She puts it in the basket and hesitates for a second, before putting the Kimchee flavored Coolpis in there as well.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco is been shopping at FaM-Mart, for no reason other that she doesn't remember having been there before. The mermaid princess is purveying the snack selection, looking for something that catches her eyes. She has been stockpiling on quite a few different sweets, mostly candied fruit.

She is going around the shelves when she recognises a fellow Radiant Heart student. She approaches her with a smile, saying "Hey, you shopping for snacks too? I have been stocking on candied fruit. I am Coco, by the way. I am a student at Radiant Heart too."

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    Mie peers down her nose at Coco, trying to decide what to do with this student who is trying to strike up conversation with her. Normally she'd just brush her off but she'd been told that she should at least attempt to make... friends (*shudder*).

    Very well. "I'm Mie Kitamura, eighth grade," she says, introducing herself. "I'm, indeed, shopping for snacks. I have decided to try all these flavors of Kit Kats."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Nice to meet you, Mie. I am from the Eleventh grade", Coco answers with a smile, not paying any mind to the girl's lack of enthusiasm since she decided to answer her. "Are those your favourite snacks?" Coco says all while peering down the selection of snacks Mie is carrying around. "It hasn't been long since I started living in Tokyo, so I hadn't checked out FaM-Mart yet. Are you from the area?"

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    Mie hesitates at Coco's question. "I don't know," she admits. "This is why I'm trying all of them. I like chocolate, but all you get in Marchenland are bars of chocolate. Which is fine, I suppose, but it's not something they regularly let dra... er... schoolgirls eat." Her eyes go a little shifty as she tries to come up with some sort of better explanation. "Because we have to watch our weight." Nailed it.

    "I, too, am not from Tokyo, and have only moved here recently. I am finding it..." so many words she could use, though some would beg questions she'd prefer not to answer. So she settles on, "...interesting." She tilts her head, cocking it off to one side to look at Coco curiously with one eye. "Where are you from?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Experimenting is nice", she comments about Mie's trip through the mall. "You would get sick of eating the exact same thing after a while", she adds. "Where is Marchenland?" not recognising any place with that name. "I have never heard of it, I wonder what it means", she says in confusion. She recognises the suffix -land of course, but Marchen is completely unknown to her. Maybe she should look it up later. Not in front of Mie, though. That would be rude.

"Expectations are a bane sometimes. In my case, everyone wants you to be there even if you would have to fill your agenda to the brim", she nods in sympathy, remembering all the meetings she is expected to do as a princess. Not really the weight thing, though, since she has the bonus of burning everything through swimming. "Coming to Tokyo has been like a vacation in comparison, even with homework and studying."

"Interesting how?" Coco says, looking questioningly at the green-haired girl. That pause was rather weird. On her part, she commits a blunder too, answering too hastily about her homeland. "I am from South America", she says looking a bit nervously to the side, not really getting the hang of lying.

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    Mie briefly looks like a deer caught in headlights when she's asked about Marchenland. Dang it. She shouldn't have mentioned it. "It's... in Germany," she lies. That sounds about right.

    She sniffs and looks at her basket, attempting to steer the conversation away from her homeland. "Yes. There are so many different kinds of snacks in Japan that it's difficult to try every one." She looks up with grim determination. "But I //will// try."

    "Yes. Expectations," she says darkly. "I know what it is like for what the expectations for you to be is beyond your capacity to handle. I've come to Tokyo to get away from those expectations."

    "The culture is far different from where I am from," she explains. "There are so many rules. It is hard to keep track of when I'm supposed to do what." And when Coco explains that she's from South America, Mie nods, accepting the lie at face value.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Oh, I am friends with a girl from Germany!", she reacts to Mie's mention of Marchenland's location. "Maybe I should introduce you two, it would be nice meeting someone that shares your cultural roots. Or at least, I would appreciate it. It would make the whole experience a bit less alien."

"Hmm, eating all snacks in Japan, huh..." Coco repeats pensively. "I am kind of worried about the travel expenses, besides the costs of the snacks themselves. There are many local traditions, right?" She looks to Mie for confirmation, as she expects her to be an expert on the subject of snacks.

Coco grins widely at Mie once the dragon girl relates to her experience. "And besides, school offers club activities to let you relax. I am in the music club as a singer and the experience has been wholly positive. Are you in a club?"

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    Mie forces herself to grin, "That would be lovely," she manages, trying to control her internal panic. She must not, under any circumstances, meet this person. "I can't wait to meet her."

    She waves a hand dismissively. "Travel is no issue. I can fly wherever I want." That and the Bad End Kingdom kind of touches anywhere in the world, so it wouldn't be that hard to go to, say, Osaka and try out the local cuisine. "But there are so many different snacks just here alone," she says. "It will take me a while to get through them all."

    For the first time, Mie's eyes actually light up when clubs are mentioned. "Yes! I'm in the RPG club! We play this game called Dungeons and Dragons. It's where you get to pretend to be a fantasy hero and fight monsters and go on adventures!" She places a hand on her chest, "I, of course, am playing a dragonborn."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco nods, taking Mie's free hand in hers. "Don't worry, it's really easy. Just give me your phone number and I will be sure to put you two into contact with each other", she proposes with enthusiasm.

When Mie mentions being able of flying everywhere, Coco looks at her quizzically. "Do you have a private jet?" Coco hadn't taken her for the ultra-rich type, but then again how would she show it off? "Now that I think of it, you have a bit of a regal air to you, between the dress and the big bow adorning your air. It's like you are a princess t... tellingly", she bites her tongue right at the end. 'What am I saying!?" she reprimands herself in her mind. Luckily, she thinks she saved herself at the last moment.

"That's awesome, Amy will appreciate it so much! She is in the RGP club too!" she exclaims, feeling excited at this lucky coincidence. "Oh, Amy is the german girl. Anyway, I don't know much of it myself, though, so I hope you don't mind if I ask why you said "of course" about playing a dragonborn."

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    Mie has to suppress the urge to jerk her hand away from Coco when it's taken, and a flash of disgust crosses her face before it's replaced by panic as she's asked for her phone number. What does she do? It'd be impolite to turn her down. They might suspect something is up if she does, but then she might end up talking to this person. "Very well," she decides, and rattles off her phone number. Fortunately, she doesn't get very good signal strength in the Bad End Kingdom.

    "Yes. Something like that," she says at the question of the jet. "It makes traveling very convenient." She looks genuinely surprised when she's compared to a princess, though. "I- I do? Me? A princess?" She shakes her head vigorously. "No, I could never be one. That's just-" not how things work. "There aren't any princesses in Germany." Hopefully that's true.

    When the German girl is given a name, and is in the RPG club she perks up a bit. "Yes! I know this Amy. We've had many adventures together." As for why dragonborn, she sniffs imperiously, "Because dragons are the superior species, obviously."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco notices the flash of disgust on Mie's face, attributing it to the weirdness of being so forward with someone who is barely even an acquaintance. "I'm sorry if I bothered you", she says, quickly retracting her hand. "That was a bit too forward of me." She quickly records the girl's phone number into her phone. "Since we now know each other we could all hang out together sometimes, if you like the idea."

"It doesn't matter if there are or there aren't princesses in Germany, you would look great as one", she replies with tenacity, wanting to give Mie a show of confidence.

Besides the fact she has never seen one existing, Coco doesn't really think they are that superior, since they don't run a series of kingdoms spanning the vast majority of the planet, but there is no way she can tell that to Mie without outing herself, so she suppresses her smirk and asks "What is it that makes them superior?" she tries to say as calmly as possible.

Mie Kitamura has posed:
    "Yes, I suppose hanging out would be acceptable," Mie says after some consideration. Perhaps one of these girls will know who those pesky magical girls she keeps running into are and can spill their details so she can take care of them once and for all.

    "N- no. It's just that I //can't// be the princess," she says. "That's not how it's supposed to go. You can't-" she shakes her head, stopping herself with a sigh. "You wouldn't understand."

    She brightens, however, when she's asked about dragon's superiority. "Well, they're powerful, for one. Big, and strong, and tough. Such pretty scales, far more regal than any lizard. They breathe fire! And have hoards!" She makes biting motions with her teeth with her fingers crooked out to be like claws, "And they've got sharp teeth and claws! Angnangangang!" Straightening she says, "Clearly better than anything a human or elf or whatever other race would have."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Then it's decided", she gives the other girl a thumbs up in lieu of taking her hand again. "I will tell the others about you, and as soon as we have a plan, I will give you a call."

She doesn't get why Mie is so inflexibly denying how regal she looks, but she shrugs and gives it a pass, since she doesn't think she is going to change opinion.

Similarly, she doesn't point out how those exact things end up making them a target, instead she says "it has been really enjoyable talking with you Mie, but I have to go now. I hope we get to see each other soon", Coco smiles waving at the other girl as she pays for her purchases and exits the FaM-Mart.