958/Happy New Year

Happy New Year
Date of Scene:	01 January 2024
Location:	Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis:	Monsters dont' take holidays, and neither does Kyouko. She runs into Kyouka while patrolling and conversation (and snacks!) ensure.
Cast of Characters:	Kyouko Sakura, Kyouka Inai

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Kyouko Sakura has posed:
It's getting late on New Year's Day. While the parties are still going, it's less that the whole city.. whole country really.. are still celebrating, and more just the die hard parties that are still in progress. There's a selection of people who didn't party at all. Either for a lack of friends and family or a copious amount of introversion, or a combination therein. Even fewer are actively out working, and that includes a red haired, red clothed magical girl.

Kyouko is perched on a mid-rise roof top, leaning on her spear as she watches the people below. Witches don't really care much for keeping track of holidays, and she doesn't either. The only real sign of the festive season is the seasonal packaging on the pocky that she extracts to crunch on.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Most of the partying, such as it was, was done the night before, during the transition from one year to the next. Today is supposed to be a day for visiting Shrines in the company of friends and family, giving gifts and wishing well for the year to come. Some people, however, don't really have any of those things. Kyouka Inai is one- no family, no real friends who aren't 16 years old and her students, which are not exactly the type of people you take out drinking. The one person she might have spent the day with she'd never swallow her pride enough to ask, and just had a raging multi-hour phone argument with besides. No, she is thoroughly on her own this new year's.

    The solution last night had been to sit at home and drink. A lot. Today, there's been... well, more drinking. But not as much. Just enough to stave off the hangover. Eventually she had gotten herself together enough to go out and get food, which she has just finished doing at a little ramen joint in the neighborhood. Now she is proceeding down the sidewalk back towards her apartment, though not in any particular hurry. Its chilly, and she's wearing her leather biker jacket over a red sweater and black jeans. Sunglasses firmly in place despite the setting sun, though for once that may have as much to do with her hangover as with her questionable sense of 'coolness'.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
Pocky dangling from the corner of her mouth like a candy cigarette, Kyouko squints down at the people wandering past. More specifically, one person. Black leather, sunglasses.

Hop, bounce, jump and there's a flash of red skirt, and a spear flash and a puella walking alongside the vaguely hungover Kyouka. She hasn't bothered to de-henshin yet, although she does tuck her spear away. It's awkard on the sidewalk when she's not actively aiming to stab people.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Thankfully the spear goes away, because even though the Veil might make people not question too much, its a lot easier to explain a fancy costume (especially on New Years) than it is an enormous bladed weapon on a public sidewalk, especially on a busy day like today.

     Kyouka is very hard to take by surprise, given her ability to sense magic, so she doesn't react with shock to the appearance of another, younger redhead in her vicinity. Instead she casts a only slightly-bleary-eyed gaze down and to the side to the girl now walking beside her on the sidewalk. "Happy New Year's." She greets the girl, without a hint of surprise or reproach. She doesn't seem to mind the company.

    "Not taking the day off, huh?" This upon closer observation of the girl still being in her henshin.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"The Witches don't." Kyouko points out with a shrug. "Besides. There's nothing on TV today."

Because that is clearly the only other option of what she could be up to on New Year's Day.

"Happy New Year, I guess." Kyouko remembers at least some appoximation of manners. The Veil has some work to do, as she de-henshins on the walk. Jeans and hoodie, not QUITE warm enough for the winter chill, but near enough.

The walk is in silence for a few more steps before Kyouko asks. "Did you draw the short straw in having to go fetch food?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "That's fair, I suppose." Kyouka says, acknowledging that monsters of all sorts generally do not recognize human holidays and take the day off, either. She makes no comment on what may or may not be on TV- maybe she's surprised Kyouko has a TV to watch in the first place, or maybe she just agrees.

    She makes no comment as the girl de-henshins, and when asked if she drew the short straw, she just laughs. "What? No. Just beats cooking. I'm not much of a cook in any case, and today of all days I wasn't about to try. So I went out to get some food." She shrugs her shoulders. "Girl's gotta eat, after all."

    She pauses, then stops and turns into a nearby convenience story they just happen to be passing by. "Speaking of.. hold on a sec. Don't go anywhere."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
The fact that the TV is generally a public facing one in a shop is entirely besides the point. Kyouko does nod at the mention of a girls' gotta eat. It's true! She crunches on her pocky in illustration of a girl who is eating.

"There's a cheap bento place about 12 blocks from here. 500 yen for a good sized bento, but only on weekdays, cause salary men." Because of course, Kyouko can help find cheap and plentiful food to make the cash she 'borrows' go further.

"Uhh. Okay?" Kyouko frowns at the instruction to wait outside the convenince store, but shrugs. "Whatever."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "That's good to know." Kyouka comments about the bento place, and it seems like she means it. She grew up on these streets and knows most of them pretty well, but new shops and restaurants are always coming and going in a busy city like this and she's been relatively tied to the school recently, so tips like that are definitely appreciated.

    She's only in the shop for a minute. She comes back out carrying a small plastic bag which contains some snack items for her at home, including it must be noticed, cigarette and beer. But she also has a hot red-bean-paste sweet bun, a big one, about the size of both hands laid flat, wrapped in plastic. "Here. Happy New Year's." She says, with a grin, tossing it to Kyouko. It's not an expensive gift, but it's big for a pastry and its warm and hopefully tasty.

    "Gotta keep your strength up if you're gonna be looking out for us working stiffs while we have the day off."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"They won't last long being that cheap." Kyouko comments with a shrug. "Or they'll double their prices, but for now." The only consistent thing is change.

Kyouko watches people for that minute, or two, while Kyouka is shopping and her hands automatically come up as she's tossed something. She's hardly about to fumble much of anything thrown at her, and even less so when it's a warm and delicious pastry!

Her eyes widen a bit in surprise as she considers it. "I don't have anything for you." is her first blurted out reply. A crack in the facade of indifference. "Uh. Thank you." She remembers her manners eventually. "It's been a quiet patrol day. Some youma, but not even a familiar though."

There's perhaps just a moment where she's debating the gift, but warm pastry, full of red bean paste, and she's hungry .. although when isn't she.. the wrapper isn't long for this world.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka shrugs her shoulders at being told that Kyouko doesn't have a gift for her in return. Obviously she wouldn't- it's not like she's carrying anything and this wasn't exactly a planned meeting. "Don't worry about it. Not like I had that waiting for you anyway... just thought it'd be nice to spread a little holiday cheer on New Year's for a hardworking gal. Not like I have a huge amount of people to give gifts to in any case."

    She puts her hands back in her pockets, the plastic bag with the rest of her purchases looped around her wrist, and resumes walking down the sidewalk as Kyouko munches on the pastry. "Glad it's quiet. Ought to be for a little while, after the other week. It never lasts, but I'm expecting at least a bit of a breather before anything truly insane happens again."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
Based on the happy little sounds that Kyouko is making as she chomps on the pastry, Kyouka's choice was a good one. Warm. AND tasty. AND big. Mmmmm.

"That was a light show last week." Kyouko agrees as she walks and noms. She's not one to stretch out her enjoyment, leisurely nibbling. She chomps and pastry isn't long for this world. "Your crew got it all under control? No one went splat?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "No one of significance." Kyouka replies in a way that probably sounds a lot more callous than she actually means it to. "Casualties were incurred, but not many, and not overly serious on our side. And yes, it's under control. We wouldn't be here having this conversation if it wasn't."

    She's continuing on the route towards her apartment, but her pace is leisurely. She doesn't even light up a cigarette, out of consideration for her companion. "But there's always something new on the horizon, like I told another friend. So enjoy the peace and quiet while we got it."

    She glances over at the girl as the pastry disappears. "Things pretty quiet on your end, too? In general, I mean. Not today specifically."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"Good." Kyouko nods as they continue to walk. Casualties are to be expected when it's a big Thing, and clearly it was.

"I'd like a few more Witches and a little less drama." Kyouko gives a shrug. "But yeah, there's always /something/." She considers the quiet and then shrugs again. "There's a lot of magical girls around.. like /crazy/ numbers. Not just puella. It's like tripping over roaches."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Tell me about it." Kyouka agrees to the statement about the number of magical girls (and boys) around the city these days. "It's a far cry from when I was your age, y'know. Back then there was maybe a dozen of us in all of Tokyo. Most of us barely even knew or saw each other. Less monsters too, although it didn't seem like it to us, since there were fewer of us to deal with them. It's almost like some kind of arms race is going on. More magical girls means more monsters means more magical girls means more monsters.."

    She shrugs her shoulders. "I wish I could tell you why that's happening, but I really don't know. I've been trying to find out but so far with pretty limited success."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"I figured the fuzzy little rat bastards.. whatever the Kyubeys of other magical girls are.. were setting us all up for cage matches over more magical girls and fewer grief seeds." Kyouko says it so casually, it's as if she actually has been thining this over and is serious about mahou cage matches set up by Koobs.

"Or there's a lot of desperate people and Kyubey is taking adantage of it?" Kyouko doesn't really understand other magical girl traditions, clearly.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Only Puella need Grief Seeds, and while there are probably more Puella than before, I don't think there's any outsized proportion of them." Kyouka notes absently. "That rules out your theory, I'm afraid, although I have no doubt Kyubey and his ilk are having a good time with the sudden surplus."

    She heaves a faint sigh, shaking her head. "No, something more fundamental is going on, but as of yet, I have no clue what it actually is. Sorry. But if you see or hear anything which might be a clue, you have my number, yeah? I'd love to hear it."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"Hunh." Kyouko huffs a little at the reality that not everyone uses Grief Seeds. One the one hand, less competition. On the other hand, not everyone spends their time doing the complex mental math about the grief seed economy and the use of magic in relation to it.

"Cage matches are /totally/ something it'd act all innocent about and secretly be delighting in watching us try and kill each other." Kyouko doesn't comment on her own enthusiasm for taking out some of the competition.

"Uhh." Kyouko looks a little surprised at being asked to figure out what's a clue, but she nods. "Sure. Yeah. I have your number. I texted you once, remember?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Yes I'm sure. And I'm not going to pretend that a larger population isn't going to lead to more clashes." Kyouka says, without sounding particularly happy or upset about it- she has no opinions on the matter, it's just fact. "And more mahous means more going bad, too. But that's just life. You fight to get by, no matter the situation."

    "I do remember, actually. That was a surprise." Kyouka says, with a half-smile. "But I don't mind hearing from you. Especially if you have any information to share. And hey.. it's getting cold out. I know you have a dorm at school, but if you ever need a place to crash on short notice, I'll leave a window open for you." She considers the cold, then amends, "Well, unlocked, anyway."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"I.. got a new phone. Well.. new to me." Kyouko explains briefly. "I needed to see if it actually worked."

And the only person she could come up with to text was Kyouka.

The mention of the dorm at school brings a series of emotions to cross Kyouko's face.. this girl should probably never play any bluff games.. a little startled, a little sheepish, a little uncalled for defensiveness. But the offer of somewhere to crash is accepted in the spirit in which it is offered. "Thanks. I.." She tries to say she's fine, she doens't need crash space. "I'll try and warn before I just crash into your window."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka just nods to the idea of texting her to test a new phone. Whether she believes it or not is not really important, and she doesn't see any value in belaboring the point.

    Kyouka just smirks at the offer of a warning before crashing through her window. "Don't worry, I usually wear pants even at home, and I'm very unlikely to have any guests. So you're probably safe from embarrassment in either direction. Just be easy on the window.. I don't have the cash to pay the landlord for a replacement."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"Enh." Kyouko shrugs on the notion of pants. "I've seen legs before. S'okay." She manages a grin. A smirk even. "I'll be gentle on the window, unless something literally throws me at it." She is not at all discounting that possibility. They both know what this lifestyle is like.

"There's not a lot of things that throw me around though." It's not even especially bravado that makes that claim. Kyouko isn't much of a pushover. "But who knows what the next apocolypse will look like. Mebbe it'll be into throwing people."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Thankfully, even if the apocalypse is into throwing people, there are a lot of windows in Tokyo and mine is relatively small, so I think I should be safe." Kyouka says wryly.

    She nods towards a small street leading up to her apartment building. "This is my stop. I'm going to go home and probably fall asleep for the next twelve hours. New Years is rough." A small sigh.

    "Take care, okay Sakura-san? I'll catch you around." She waves her free hand idly, then turns and makes her way towards the building.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
"You too, Inai-sensei." Kyouko has shoved the wrapper of her pastry into her pocket to throw out later. "er.. thank you for the pastry."

Politeness discharged, she takes a few quick steps and 's already henshined again with her spear out for balance before she bounces off the apartment building and then up and up and up. Back to patroling, clearly. Or perhaps just wanting to /move/. Either way, she doesn't linger.