1790/Topical Drifting

Topical Drifting
Date of Scene:	24 July 2024
Location:	Okujoo Ramen
Synopsis:	Mamoru and Usagi come to Okujoo Ramen, and meet Molly for a nice, relaxed talk about all sorts of things.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Mamoru Chiba, Molly Skyline

---

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Ramen," Usagi says with satisfaction, walking through the entrance of the restaurant the so-called-normal way, instead of just landing on the roof as was actually normal. "What we need now, is ramen."

They've been home from Paris for - a little while, now. They've made it into their summer term again, and Usagi has decided not to worry about the results of her tests; either she suffers through make-ups or she doesn't.

The point is, that while they're not on a date, it's just her and Mamoru, walking in like normal people, and joining the line for ordering. "I still can't believe it's summer again!"

The sunlight is shining off her engagement ring.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"It's a better summer already," Mamoru says quietly, fervently-- but smiling. He leans to kiss her head, then straightens up and looks out toward the tables. "You more in the mood for shade under the roof or breeze outside?" he asks her.

His hand's perfectly unharmed, unlike the way it was at the hospital -- all better now, apparently.

The absurdly tall eleventh-grader's wearing a punk band t-shirt, white, tucked into a pair of artfully ratty designer jeans. His shoes are fancy black leather dress shoes, pointed toe; his hair's very fluffy; his glasses are wire-rimmed.

He glances up at the menu. "Also, I'll have whatever you're having."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly has been here most of the day; it's not a super busy day, so she's been able to sit in one of the seats by the railing in the outside portion, where she can focus on some textbooks and a laptop. Studying for coursework, it would evidently seem; an activity that gets her out of working in the restaurant it would seem.

Biology, it would seem, is the subject du jour. Looks like she needs to know things about microbes right at the moment. Can you spell Mitochondria? More importantly, do you know what it does?

Molly stretches, and looks up for a moment. And; oh, hey, there's people she knows. Last time she say them they put her body-soul connection back to rights, or something like that. So of course a hand shoots up and the British girl waves excitedly. Over here!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"You won't hear any arguing from me on that front," Usagi nods, emphatic, bangs bouncing with the force of her agreement. Next to Mamoru, she looks even shorter than usual, dressed casually in a light-blue jacket with a bunny insignia on the left breast, sleeves rolled up, over a striped green shirt. Her pale pink shorts somehow rounded out the colors, making it so they blended instead of clashing.

It's a little warm for a jacket, but her shirt is thin, and she's got to rep her very own HopHopBunnyChan merchandise!

"In that case, let's have tonkatsu, with extra ramen eggs! And pineapple soda, please," this, to the server, because the line has moved quickly. From the corner of her eye, she notices the waving, and grins. "We'll be at the table over there, with Molly-chan!"

When the order is completed and paid for, Usagi grabs Mamoru's hand, tangling their fingers together and leading him towards Molly - totally unnecessary, but definitely happening. She waves back, and once they're close enough, plops herself down in the sea across from Molly.

"Molly-chan!! How are you? It's so good to see you!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Sticking his wallet back in his pocket as they turn from the counter, Mamoru laughs at the speed at which Usagi grabs his hand, and trails after her goodnaturedly, fingers laced. (Through the contact: he's present in a way he still has to fight for, but it's getting a little easier. He's enjoying the day.)

He takes the seat next to Usagi whether or not she lets his hand go, and leans forward a little to catch sight of what Molly's working on. "Ooh, bio. Let me know if you need help. Are you studying for a makeup exam or just getting ahead? I had to make up physics."

A beat. "Also, hello."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly lifts a foot to kick a couple of chairs back away from the table as Mamoru and Usagi close in, and she sits back in her chair, resting her eyes from the books for a moment.

"Hey, you two," she answers. "And, I'm getting ahead. Might as well, I mean... y'never know when I might wind up unable to do coursework for a while, because of... reasons. And my Moms said that if I do well next year they might let me learn to drive and get a car." She pauses, and shrugs, "I actually would'a gone for a motorcyle but apparently that's out of the question. on the upside with a car you can *drift*, so I'll be fine."

The purplenetter flips her book closed, and sets everything off to the side where there's no risk of getting Ramen on it. "Also, it's cool to see you both and, like, be able to carry on a conversation," she adds. "You know, and not feel like my soul has recently been taken on vacation without me."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Studying, by choice," Usagi shakes her head, "You're stronger than me, Molly-chan. Now that we're out of school, I don't want to look at schoolwork again! Not until like, a couple of days before the term starts and I need to do the homework, anyway."

If there's one thing she knows, it's her own habits about procrastination. And she! doesn't! mind! at! all!!!!

"But a car? That's totally cool! I mean, even if you won't be able to drive it for a while, just having one will make you as cool as -" she pauses, considering the people she knows who can drive - "Almost as cool as Haruka-kun, and she's very cool."

This is a high level compliment.

"It's good to run into you when things are calm too!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Same," says Mamoru promptly to Molly's 'not feel like my soul' statement. "Though I'm thinking of a motorcycle myself. A car would probably be more useful... but I'll only be seventeen next month."

Hemming and hawing.

"I'm going to ask Haruka-san to teach me how to drive," he says, finally. "Not how to drift. If drifting is involved, I'd rather just teleport to the destination."

A glance toward the inside, and Mamoru adjusts his glasses and returns his attention to Molly and Usagi. "No offence. I mean you should absolutely carefully have fun with that."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"If you're being careful, you're not drifting," Molly points out. "I mean, like, I'm not planning on racing against the Yakuza like in Tokyo Drift or anything, I just want to get to race and have fun. ...But my other Mom runs a tuner shop, and I'm pretty sure it's extremely silly to waste it." She grins, "Of course, you could always get a motorcycle and bring it to her. Strap some tanks of nitrous to it or something and you could go real fast."

About this moment, one of the servers walks by, and sets forth a couple bowls of ramen, one each in front of Usagi and Mamoru -- Tonkatsu Ramen, with extra egg. In front of Molly, a bowl of Sapporo Ramen is placed, and all three get a Pineapple Soda.

"Your Mom says *eat*," explains the esrver, after bowing to Usagi and Mamoru.

"I guess I'll eat," Molly observes, as the server wanders off. "Anyway, yeah, as soon as I'm reasonably confident I can drift without crashing, I'll take you both. ...And I'm glad we can talk when things are calm, too, but... next time there's a big fight, I don't want to be on the sidelines. I... I don't want to hear about what happened in Paris, I don't... feel good about my friends facing all that danger while I was here. But I'll be there next time."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"That's fine, I don't want to talk about what happened in Paris," Mamoru says wryly. "But I'm also... let's just say I'm extremely respectful of cars and what they can do if you're *not* careful, so... I might come watch, and be handy in case you do crash, but I would rather not have a panic attack in your car."

He pulls his bowl a little closer to him, and goes about eating the parts separately -- egg first. And then pineapple soda. After pineapple soda, Mamoru sits back a little and takes off his glasses, polishing them with his shirt. "What are your strengths in a fight?" he asks curiously. "Just so I know if we end up fighting alongside each other anytime. I'm a dodge tank with an invisible cannon."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Honestly, the more Molly talks about cars and the modifications and the speed, the more Usagi is sure she'll happily watch from the sidelines. The most speed she's comfy with is riding on top of a train in Mahou form, which is probably more dangerous than a car, but feels less dangerous, somehow...

"Well, I'm glad you'll have fun! I mean, if your moms are good at teaching driving, they'll definitely be able to teach you how to do that. I'm pretty bad at driving - at least, in cars? Especially in Mario Kart," which is embarrassing, but also, hilarious, "So hopefully you're better than me!"

And then their food arrives, and she cheers, eagerly mixing everything up, and dishing in with her chopsticks to scoop a bit of noodle and meat and egg into her mouth all in one bite.

"Next time, you'll be with us," she says confidently, and is glad Molly doesn't want to hear about Paris. "But, that's true! It's good to swap strengths. I'm a DPS, and a great purifier."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly laughs, "Okay, I get the sense that you'd all rather watch me drift than be in the passenger seat. That's perfectly okay. I'll try to win a race sometime when you're watching. And, I can totally teach you some tricks in Mario Kart sometime if you'd like."

she digs into her food as well; perhaps a little clumsy with the chopsticks, still, given that she's only lived in Japan for less than a year. But she's doing just fine, aside from trying to pick up the really little stuff.

"In a fight? I'm a glass cannon. I'm pretty decent at doing damage, but I can't come up with much more than a pretty basic shield. But, Starcrash is missing a bunch of stuff. Rashmi and Chrono are both trying to help me out with it though, so... hopefully soon I'll be a bit stronger." She pauses, and ahems softly. "I probably need to improve my tactics too. Rashmi's a lot better than I am at, like, not getting smashed through a brick wall. So there's that."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
While Usagi and Molly are talking, Mamoru eats some meat, then some noodle, but not really truly all at the same time. Things are taking turns, and he managed not to slurp, somehow, with the noodles.

"Well, when you're driving, the car's part of your proprioception, right? You're aware of where it is in relation to the rest of you, right?" he starts, not setting his chopsticks down, but resting his wrist on the edge of the table. "And you pretty much know if something like a concrete barrier is getting too close to you... if you think like you're in a car, you can add some decent dodge to your tactics while you're working on the shielding."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Ahahaha... yeah, I'm not the best with cars," Usagi admits cheerfully, "But I'm a great audience member, anyone will tell you!"

She takes another mixed up bite, them takes half of her egg, om nom nom...

"Have you come to Self Defense class? Kyouka-sensei - I mean, Inai-sensei, she leads it, and she's like us; her whole job is to help us get stronger and better, so we can do our best. Even if Starcrash isn't at his best, the mundane half at the start, you can learn fighting there, and then, in the second half, practice what you do have."

She grins, remembering her first session.

"There are people there who'd be happy to help you practice how not to get smashed into a wall."

Hannah-chan, who never once heard about holding back!

"Nothing wrong with being a glass cannon! I've got no way to defend, but, usually I'm pretty decent at dodging."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"I have not," Molly admits, "But I feel like next semester I'd better get on that. And Starcrash is plenty good at flinging beams and barrets and stuff all over the place, I just... feel like I need some new tricks. ...Much as I love him how he is."

she devotes herself to eating her Ramen for a little bit; and she mostly manages not to slurp the noodles. Mostly. "I've never actually driven a car," she admits, "That's... something I'm still looking forward to, but that makes sense, yeah. It definitely works in video games, so I'll... cheerfully assume that it works in real life too! Also, flying keeps you safe from some things. Just, not any Youmas that can also fly. Or people who can shoot magic faster than you can fly. Then that's a definite issue."

Molly sips her soda, and gets a big grin on her face. "Okay so off topic, but as much as I miss England sometimes, Japan is wonderful. We had like... eight flavors of Soda. You've got a bajillion. I feel like I could have a different one every day and not run out for years."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"At least you don't have the disadvantage against a flying enemy," Mamoru points out -- but then Molly's very firmly changing the subject away from business, and the boy smiles a little and sips his pineapple soda, then starts eating his ramen in earnest. Tonkatsu is such a happy thing. He focuses on it after all, since he doesn't want it getting soggy.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"We have so much soda, of all kinds, and it's so weird how everyone else doesn't! Like, what, you don't have cucumber soda, or melon soda in England? Why not! It's so refreshing!"

Usagi can easily and happily talk about just about anything - and if the conversation is guided away from business, then so be it. She digs into her ramen for a few minutes as well, scarfing down the veg and meats, saving the last of her eggs for the end, when she'll want that creamy, savory richness most.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly shakes her head, "Nope, none of that. There's like... coke, diet coke, sprite, orange, grape... those are kinda the main ones." She shrugs her shoulders lightly. "Like I said, boringville. You're not gonna see me lining up for the cucumber soda, 'cause I don't really like cucumber, but there's... enough other things to try anyway."

The purplenette eats a couple more mouthfuls of Ramne, and ohs, "That said, beed with Yorkshire pudding is really good. As long as you've got good gravy, and like... parsnips and brussel sprouts and stuff." She shrugs, "You're not gonna eat that with chopsticks though. So there's that drawback. Chopsticks are just *way better*."

Even if you're not very good with them apparently.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Bet you I can eat all that with chopsticks," Mamoru says cheerfully after a moment, then lifts his bowl to carefully drink some broth. He sets his bowl down again and watches the violette for a second, thoughtfully. "The classes are on Wednesdays," he says, finally. "I know you don't want to talk about business at all, so I'll not press further than that. I just think you should check it out. Help you meet more of us, too."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I think the only think you can't eat with chopsticks is congee, and even thenm, you can do it if you really try, and do it really, really, reallys lowly." Painstakingly dip and suck strats go! "But, seriously? That's all the fruit soda?" She shakes her head and points her chopsticks towards Mamoru -

"He's right. The classes are still happening in summer, so if you ever want to show up, you can. But we won't make you talk about all that. You can tell me why beef goes with pudding, instead, if you want, because pudding is like... sweet?"

Oh, this sweet summer child.