375/Icecream encounters

Icecream encounters
Date of Scene:	06 September 2023
Location:	Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis:	Kaori and Amy have an encounter; a fight with some thugs helps cement it as a good one.
Cast of Characters:	Kaori Jira, Amanda Faust

---

Kaori Jira has posed:
Sun shining, beautiful city and...a grumpy girl making her way down the street. Tall, dressed in a pair of figure-hugging jeans and a leather jacket around her shoulders, her dark raven hair hung well down her back while she makes her onwards. It was the sort of afternoon most should be enjoying, she even had a small bag of newly purchased outfits in one hand and yet...Kaori just seemed to radiate displeasure.

This body was...small, pink, needed this clothing to not get too cold, had no claws, no fangs, no tail...how did humans live like this? Sure enough, the Kaiju princess had only one benefit she'd found so far that stopped her from wanting to start breaking things in this very moment: their food was pretty good, and now she was headed to indulge in the 'Cream of Ice' that she'd seen others indulging in.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    It *is* pretty good, which is why there's often a line at the ice cream shop. Presently at the end of the line is a short redhead in a T-shirt and slacks.

    She's playing games on her phone while she waits. "Ugh, I shouldn't have increased my Adventure Rank. Now I can't progress in the story anymore..."

Kaori Jira has posed:
A line wasn't going to do much for Kaori's mood as she approached, her eyes narrowing and a little noise of distaste escaping her lips before she makes to draw closer. But it wasn't the young woman who stepped up behind Amy, indeed she wasn't fast enough, instead there was a rough hand shoving her aside as a small collection of individual pushed their way through the line and made their way closer.

Plenty of people had said that she looked kind of like a delinquent, but the small collection of twenty-somethings barging into the store? Well, they were clearly the real thing from all impressions.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Hey!" Amy drops her phone and picks it up while they push past. It is unbroken, in a rugged black case that puts function waaaay over form. Then she goes to return to her place in line, but like, these clowns are pushing through the whole line? "Hey! Wait your turn like everyone else! Mou, kids today..."

    They presumably identify themselves with some sort of self-important speech, but Amy's initial reaction might not be what hey expect:

    "Oh my god *seriously*? People like *actually do* this delinquent thing like in manga? Like, skipping school is one thing, school is bogus, I get it, but that doesn't make you, like, entitled to anything? Go wait in line like everyone else."

    The 150cm-in-shoes redhead has the attitude of an adult not taking kids seriously.

Kaori Jira has posed:
'Kids today'? What a response those works seemed to garner, as if there had been a literal record scratch as several of them stopped and began to turn to face Amy where she was fishing for her form. "What did you say?" one particularly vocal one spoke, stepping forward to brandish, of all things, a baseball bat decorated with an overwhelming scattershot collection of skate and 'totally punk band' stickers. A jab of the rounded edge towards (and perhaps against) Amy's chest as they stepped forwards and began to half-surround the petite figure.

Malice, superiority, the sort of viciousnness one might expect from a pack of animals all seemed to radiate from the group who had turned their attention from immediate robbery and menacing to making a point with someone who dared to mock or call them out.

There was often a point where 'delinquent' crossed the line into criminal thugs and that point seemed rather close at hand.

Circling as they were, none of them seemed to notice the tall girl who moved up now into the line and seemed to take in the scene.

Now general frustration was shifting to...something else for Kaori.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "I said--" But she's pushed back by the bat. "Gh. You didn't even put any nails in it..." Although, as they surround her, towering over her, warning bells go off in her head. Even if she knows she's a Magical Girl, there's a lower level of her brain that *doesn't* understand that and is rather concerned. She looks between them, mad at herself for feeling afraid, or maybe mad at her situation, or maybe mad at them, or maybe mad at all of them.

    Thiiiiiis could be going somewhere bad fast. Amy considers her options:

    > [Fight]     [Intimidate] [Diplomacy]
     [Confuse]   [Item]       [Run]      

    Like, she *is* a magical girl, and this *is* a situation straight out of a manga and what a manga character would do is fight, but like... she'd rather not *reveal* she's a magical girl to everyone? And if she *doesn't* reveal that... heck, manga protagonists in a better position than her have got at least a 50% chance of getting their asses kicked. Besides, come on, they're teenagers. She shouldn't beat up kids if she can help it.

      Fight, like a man! That's what a manga protagonist would do here!    
                                                                          
      Intimidate: "I'm a magical girl! I fight *real* monsters, you think  
      you stand a chance?"                                                
                                                                          
   > Lean into your appearance and make them come to their senses: "You  
      wouldn't attack a helpless little girl, would you?"                  
                                                                          
      Confuse: "Stay back! You don't wanna touch me, I've got a contagious
      TS disease!"                                                        

    Amy looks up at them. "*Seriously?* You're gonna prove how strong you are by beating up a teenage girl? What is *wrong* with you?!"

    Amy rolls Diplomacy at -1. She's not very good at this.

Kaori Jira has posed:
So many choices, so many approaches. Amy decided to cycle through many and choose the one that admittedly should have worked the best. Unfortunately, some people were just jerks who were all too happy to choose violence, with each of these 'Delinquents' having been walking the edge for a while, each of them waiting for the push or the nudge from one another to see who would cross the line into 'real gangsta' type one day.

Today at least, it seemed like one was willing to finally take that step as he jabbed with the bat once more, brandishing it threateningly.

"It's not about strength little mouse, it's about making sure you respect your betters. People gotta learn!"

The bat winds back, the thug even swings his whole body into the blow without the slightest reserve for the fact he was swinging at a short teenage girl while his friends egg him on and posture.

So when the bat suddenly stops moving entirely like it had been lodged in stone and he actually stumbles? There's an actually noise of genuine confusion before he turned around to the sight of the taller girl still gripping the wooden sporting equipment-turned-weapon in an unyielding grasp.

"There -are- disrespectful creatures here," Kaori glowers, her own aura of 'DOOM' carried in that stare. "who are deserving of punishment..."

Violence
Violence
Violence
MEGA Violence
Terrorize
Intimidate

Selection Pending...

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Kh, you're not my bet-- [oh fuck!]" Since he telepgraphed the swing so dramatically, Amy crouches under it, and ancient self-defence training is trying to decide whether to knee/kick him in the balls or somewhere higher... but the attack is stopped? She glances around to see what the rest of the would-be 'gang' are doing, then up at her 'savior', then at her grip on the bat, and stands up, stepping back out of bat range. "Force doesn't make you better than anyone else. It just makes you a bully. Please stop this and leave." She considers pointing out anyone who's got their phone out and recording, but that might just drive them to 'prove' themselves more.

    She clasps her hands together in front of her chest. "Please?"

Kaori Jira has posed:
Appeal to kindness, appeal to terror, or does pride win out? It's hard to know exactly which way the thugs might go. Witnesses might have their phones out, but that certainly didn't matter to Kaori in the slightest. Possibly, because she was still working out how the phone thing actually worked.

Well, at least the 'Bat thug' was going to try to save face, turning around to reach out to grab at Kaori's collar and lift a hand to cock a punch. "You-" he begins, but whatever slur or curse might have been about to leverage was suddenly turned to a noise of suprise as Kaori grasped him by his own collar and lifted him almost a -foot- off the ground.

Movies aside, the physics of that might well be concerning for the strength or leverage such a thing might take before Kaori threw him backwards to tumble in a dirty and embarassed heap.

Kaori didn't really have self defense training as a human might, she -had- spent plenty of her life fighting, but not in this body she had been reborn to, but she was used to being strong and some fragments of that had clearly remained.

What was worse than violence for many people? Ackwardness. And now it was in full force, between Amy making plenty of the surrounding gang members feel a little sheepish for picking on the 'smol' and the humiliating way their ringleader had just been tossed aside by the 'Tall', they did what many did: turned on each other.

Picking up the thug who was now sans a baseball bat, the jeers and mocking began like the cackle of hyenas as they made their retreat.

Most would offer noises of relief or perhaps celebration, but Kaori? She actually sighs as she looks down at herself and then makes to zip up her jacket and return to the line. Now she really needed that icecream.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    The thug goes to attack the other girl. Amy's kick whiffs because he's been lifted up, and she stares as he's THROWN. This lady is *impossibly* strong.

    The thugs leave cackling, but it's insulting to hyenas to compare them. Hyenas know not to mistreat their women!

    Amy steps back into line behind Kaori, smiling up at her. "Hey, uh, thanks! That coulda gone really badly if you hadn't stepped in. ...I'm Amy! Wanna be friends?" She holds out her hand to shake.

Kaori Jira has posed:
Ah! She's being spoken to. There's an actual blink from the raven-haired girl as she turns to look over her shoulder then turns in full and tilts her head in curiousity. Most people tended to be a little unnerved by the...intensity she tended to put off, so it was a little suprising that Amy was addressing her. "Amy?" she repeats, looking down to the younger girl. "I am...Kaori. And it was nothing...it is almost a shame they decided to run away when they did. There were plenty of lessons they could have been taught, for their attitude, rudeness...and ruining my shirt.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy hehs. "You like to fight, huh? Have you considered-- do you take martial arts classes? Although, with that strength, sparring might hurt people."

Kaori Jira has posed:
Did she like to fight? That was actually a question that probably required some deeper consideration from the 'Monster Princess', but she simply considers for a moment as they resume their movement through the line and grow ever closer to the promise of icecream. Her gaze does look down to the smaller girl as they walk, considering for a moment. "I found them annoying, loud and rude and they chose to strike at me. It might have been nice to leave them with a reminder..."

Sparring, that brought a little blink. "This is...play fighting?"

Close, maybe the language is not quite as natural to her as one might expect.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy narrows her eyes briefly. "Yeah. You don't know... you've never heard such a word before?" Beat. "[Hey... do you speak English better, by any chance?]" If so, she continues in English. Either way: "So ummm... this might sound weird, but I've run into a lot of weird people around... like... mermaids, or aliens from outer space. Are you uhh... something else? It's okay if tou are. I'm not a speciesist, people are people."

Kaori Jira has posed:
"There was...no formal versions of such things where I am from." Did she speak English better? Well, she seemed to understand it well enough, but that didn't mean that she wasn't going to squint in such a fashion at Amy's rather direct question. She'd basically learned every language she knew 'long distance' before she'd been pulled here before she came to raise an eyebrow. Thankfully it was that moment that they reached the counter and she was able to look down at the collection of treats. What was she?

"I am hungry," is her simply answer. "Are such things common?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy laughs lightly. "Being hungry is pretty common!" Then, a bit more seriously: "I honestly don't know. A couple of months ago, I didn't think any other species walked among us. Then I learned about one, and another, and a whole bunch more just... the other day. So I have no idea."

Kaori Jira has posed:
"And how does one recognize these others?" she questions, even as Amy moved up beside her. Who knows, perhaps others from her home, her families subjects...maybe they made it here too. Perhaps she was not alone, surrounded by humans...and stuck 'mostly' as one herself. Of course that was not her only problem given the mild look of increasing frustration as she -stared- at the flavours before her before finally turning to face Amy proper and fix her gaze entirely on her. "Which of these is the -best- flavor?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy looks up at her. "I don't know. But you just threw a guy with one hand. That's not something a human that looks like you can normally do, I'm pretty sure... Although, maybe I'm off-base. Maybe you're magical..."

    "Which flavor is the best? That's a matter of personal taste. However, chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla are all pretty popular. What other foods do you like wait you've seriously *never had ice cream before?!* ...Tell you what. I can make a suggestion based on other food you like, or you can try the chocolate and vanilla swirl as a pretty solid first experience. Either way, I'll get strawberry and let you have a bite so you can see what that tastes like too."

Kaori Jira has posed:
"It's not?"

Huh. Maybe most humans were even weaker than -she- was in this form. She had to be even -more- careful? It was enough to make her internal grumble levels increase before Amy's question brings a small nod and a light little blink. "I have enjoyed chocolate...and some of the 'noodles' that I have tried here so far. But those were not tastes that were served together."

Helpful. And Kaori wasn't really doing a great job of selling herself as normal here...."

"Craftsman," she speaks up, pointing to the server and almost certainly getting a look of confusion from the man. "Amy will select for me, you will provide us the finest of your craft. Here is your payment."

Well, at least she'd worked out money so far, and it seemed she was paying for Amy's own snack.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy slumps a little bit at Kaori's awful I AM NORMAL HOO-MAN impression. "Iiii'm gonna reccomend chocolate and caramel for her, in a bowl. Do you have the kind with a little salt in it? Maybe see how that goes. I'll just have a couple scoops of Strawberry in a sugar cone, thanks." She smiles.

Kaori Jira has posed:
Success! Kaori seems to take her own bowl with a sense of victory and make to walk away from the counter before taking her first bite...and stopping so suddenly on the spot that she might actually be a hazard Amy could run into if she wasn't ready for it. -This- was icecream?!

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy *does* bump into her, although the relative mass and whatever superhuman physicality Kaori has going on probably make it not much. "Huh?" She peers around to see Kaori's facial expression. "Holy shit, you really haven't had ice cream before... damn, I can't even remember my first time. ...So my reccomendation was good, then?" She smiles.

Kaori Jira has posed:
"How are people not more excited about this?!" she demands, making to turn and face Amy with that same wide-eyed expression, perhaps for the first time seeming to have lost all traces of -scary- and having replaced it with excited girl. This was quite the loss of composure for the heir to the Queen of Monsters, but for the moment? Well, Kaori was in awe. "This is wonderful!"

Or it would be, until the rapid flurry of spoonfuls had her suddenly whincing in shocked pain.

First brainfreeze was quick to follow it seems!

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy smiles. "They *are*, that's why there's a line!" She gestures at the line of customers still there. "Anyway, you can have a bite of mine too, as promised. Even a big bite if you want, I keep forgetting I can't eat as much in this body..." When she just starts devouring the ice cream like that though, Amy urges: "Woah, slow down, you wanna savor it!"

Kaori Jira has posed:
"In this body?!" Okay, there was the change that Amy had been looking for, as Kaori's pained expression shifts before she reaches out to grasp Amy's wrist and pull her out of sight of others before leaning down to look at the girl. "Were you trapped in a human form as well? Who did this to you? Where are you from?!"

Welp...Kaori's deception rolls were far worse than Amy's earlier diplomacy.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Hey, my ice cream!" She quickly grabs it with her other hand as she's pulled along, and then finds herself looking up into the eyes of a... who knows what, looking out of human eyes down at her with concern. "Woah!" She lowers her voice, "I'm human, just... a different human! I was taller before... and older... Becoming like this was..."

    She pauses briefly, but... *come on*, Kaori is clearly involved in magical shit.

    "...It was the price... sort of... for becoming a magic warrior able to defend people from magic dangers. ...Sorry. I've been wishing I had someone in the same situation to talk to, so I guess I know a little bit of how you must feel, hoping I was a... whatever-you-are. But I still hope we can be friends and I can help you!"

Kaori Jira has posed:
A little soft huff of annoyance and Amy shakes her head, taking a grumpy bite of her icecream. "You changed to a new body to become a warrior? To become stronger? I had someone change me..."

Even so, she trails off, gaze sweeping over the space. She -had- essentially been kidnapped from her home after all.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "I'm sorry..." For getting her hopes up.

    "Well um... it was... look, I was just a normal guy--" immediately after it gets out of her mouth she realizes: oops. Oh well... "...I was a normal human, I didn't know magic and stuff was real, and then a magical battle was happening, and the little talking animal asked if I would become a magical girl and fight... So I said yes... I didn't, uh... I wasn't really thinking in terms of changing bodies to fight..." She slumps a bit and looks away. "Honestly, this body's *weaker* than my old one when it's not enhanced by magic, but ...I don't know why it was magical *girl* and not magical *man*, but... like... I'm not complaining, alright? I get to know about magic and stuff now..."

    She looks up into Kaori's eyes with curiousity. "So you were changed into a human... from what? And why?"

Kaori Jira has posed:
     "You don't have the right words in your language for it, the closest? Titan? Monster?" Kaori turns, looking down at Amy. "I -do- know what a magical girl is, those who brought me here, they told me of them...I am...adjusting to the concept." Especially given that was essentially meant to be a means of her accessing some of her powers once more.

"Every step, an earthquake, every breath a hurricane...now I'm...this," she says, gesturing to herself, "if it were not for the icecream? It would be unbearable."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "...A giant monster? ...Like in Boukun Tyrano-san? ...Who brought you here? Why? *How*?" Amy scratches her head, and then licks the melting parts of her ice cream. "How long ago? Um. If you don't mind. I'm curious, but I also want to help."

Kaori Jira has posed:
"Magic."

The single word is said practically deadpan, unimpressed even as she demolishes the last of her icecream, sour notes of thought having surpassed the joy of taste.

"They wanted a monster, but they had to contain it in...this. Human. But I intend to find a way to get back more of...me."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy listens. "Alright, fair. I don't know *how* I'm like this now or why I can fight better. But... who? And are they like... after you, now? Or did they decide they don't care, because you ended up like this?" She hmms. "You're definitely stronger than a human your size and apparent strength should be. Only the strongest of humans could throw a guy across a room one-handed like you did. They wanted a monster... but had to put you in a human body? That seems like it kinda rules out most... reasons some weird shady magic people would want a monster. I mean, they can't have you terrorize Tokyo or whatever looking like a teenage girl. So... what did they want you to do? ...Do you have a place to live? Are you still stuck with the people who did this to you?"

Kaori Jira has posed:
"You ask a lot of questions," Kaori muses lightly before folding her hands under her bust before exhaling a breath. "The ego that they might -demand- anything of me...imagine if an angry rodent suddenly thought to put a leash around your neck."

Grumpy Kaori returns, answers less than forthcoming...or maybe she merely didn't wish to admit she didn't know.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Well... It's hard to help you if I don't know about your situation..."

    She licks her ice cream again. "Well, I suppose I'd have to be pretty impressed that rodents *managed* it and at least find out why they wanted my attention so badly, but... It's not about what they are, it's that no one should be enslaving people in the first place! Rodent, human, fellow kaiju, it doesn't matter!" She makes a horizontal 'no/cut that out' gesture with her free hand.

    "So... Do you want a friend? Sorry I'm just a lowly human, but you're stuck among us for now. It's gonna be hard to get back on your own, and we may be individually weak, but together... we've conquered and changed the planet." Beat. "...We also made ice cream."

Kaori Jira has posed:
A grunt, lest Kaori actually be forced to concede a point to Amy, before she raises an eyebrow at the comment before turning to face Amy and then looking down at her hands.

"You have...without claws, teeth, muscle, scales...you don't even have tails!"

A sigh, she nods, an agreement given about the food...and an acceptance of said 'friendship' in one.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy twists her neck and upper body as best she can as if trying to inspect her lack of a tail. "...*some* of us are kinda unhappy about that, I guess, but I don't really mind."

    She looks up at Kaori again. "Honestly? And even in the sense you mean? We make up for it with cooperation." She gestures at the world around them, then taps the side of her head. "All of this? This is all a *side effect*. Because we evolved brains so that *other people* would be our weapons."

    She licks the ice cream, then looks up at Kaori again. "If it's any consolation? You're in the body of a persistance hunter. Even without other humans to help you, you can chase animals until they're exhausted. Although very few of us could manage that now... And also throw things at them from range where they can't hit you back. That's gotta count for something, right?"

Kaori Jira has posed:
Well, Amy was certainly doing her best to offer the merits of humanity, and she was doing a decent job, but Kaori simply sighed as they continued to walk. "You have done the best you can with what you have..." she muses slightly before sighing, "but this world is..."

She trails off, turning to face Amy properly and lifting a hand. "And you, you have more power than most now, what do you do with it? You talk about being a warrior, but to what purpose?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
"It must be very different from what you're used to, yeah."

    What does Amy do with her power? "I fight monsters. Err... the ones that attack innocent humans. I also specifically promised to kill Witches, these crazy otherworldly beings that magically drive people to suicide, without those who can't see magic even aware of what's happening."

    Lick.

    "...I guess that kinda makes them my prey? But I don't eat the-- oh wait, I have to absorb their magic power to live, and to be able to keep fighting."

    Amy blinks and stares into space at the realization. "Holy shit, they *are* my prey. Huh. I never thought of it that way."

Kaori Jira has posed:
And now, it was actually Kaori's turn to smile, a nod of approval perhaps, or merely some common ground. "The place of a ruler is one of order and protection. Your strength should punish those who threaten your own and protect those in your charge. That is my mother's way...and my way, if I was still strong enough."

A step, another step, she continues to walk. "May your hunt for your prey be fruitful then, I must find somewhere to bathe and sleep."

Despite the fact she had shopping bags with her (and who knows where she got the money!) the titan in teen girl form was technically a homeless delinquent herself.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "I think you can still do that." Amy offers. "And, remember the persistance hunter thing. I bet the mages who did this to you *aren't* in shape, and *don't* have the mentality for it. If you can get one alone and you just. Keep. Showing up again every time they run away and try to rest? Like, we make *horror movies* about shit like that."

    She looks over Kaori with concern. "You don't have anywhere to stay? Look, um... I can let you into the dorm at school and you can use our shower, and sleep on the floor in our dorm room tonight. Or on a couch in the student lounge. I'm sure no one will really mind, and even if they do, it's... probably a better situation than you'll typically be in, right? And maybe we can find someone to help you."

    She looks Kaori over thoughtfully. "You know... How do you feel about helping to fight other monsters, that endanger humanity? Maybe we can get you enrolled at the school in exchange for that, and then you'd have a place to stay and free food."

Kaori Jira has posed:
"Let me?" Kaori blinks, tilting her head. She'd been to the school, she'd even been welcomed into some of the others dorms...seems she'd simply just walked in there like she was meant to be there. As far as the Kaiju Princess was concerned? She was. The offer genuinely confused her.

"There are no 'other monsters' like me," she adds with a light flick of her hair, its long black length still a novelty to her. "To think otherwise is...insulting."

Still, she shrugs her shoulders, seemingly having found that gesture understandable. "But if you are offering your hospitality for tonight, I will accept."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Not monsters like *you*, no... I guess you'll see what I mean eventually..." Amy starts walking with her back towards the school, smiling. She's glad to be able to help Kaori, who *had no place to stay*. Nigh-inconceivable to the middle-class girl.