133/Check Your Korma At The Door

Check Your Korma At The Door
Date of Scene:	22 July 2023
Location:	Korma Chameleon
Synopsis:	A group of students and one teacher meet up at Korma Chameleon and get to know one another better. Thanks to Kyubey, many are now suspicious of one another. The new girl Niji is oblivious to the mascot... for now.
Cast of Characters:	Chiyo Sakai, Madoka Kaname, Setsuna Meiou, Niji Dasshu, Ikiko Hisakata

---

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
The lure of Korma Chameleon was twofold: Fusion food of good portion, and it was a family restaraunt for one of the students at Radiant Heart. It always seemed as if the students from the school were well welcomed here unlike some which may find it annoying to 'have so many kids around.'

Even before Chiyo had started attending the academy she'd known of this place. Typically she opted for takeout on busy days when she and her grandfather had worn themselves out working at their own shop, Nounamu Sweets, so she wasn't exactly a well-known face. Lately she'd gained more friends, and with it the desire to socialize more among fellow students, so this place was as good as any to hang out.

It had to be better than that pottery painting event the other day where a youma had shown up and wiped out her energy, that's for sure.

Chiyo slips inside hearing the familiar automated greeting from the door chime, and she steps over toward the area to wait for a table while looking around for any familiar faces--or at least familiar school uniforms.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka has been curious about the Korma Chameleon for a while, and now's as good a time as any to try it out. She would be coming here alone, but Kyubey has apparently decided to join her. She seems annoyed at the creature, but isn't otherwise shooing him off. It seems content to just hang around the pinkette for now.

    Fortunately she managed to skip out on any pottery shenanigans. Which is probably a good thing, because it's absolutely a trap that she would have fallen for. Actually, it's been a short while since anything directly bad happened to her. That doesn't mean that she doesn't have anything on her mind, though.

    When she enters the Korma, with Kyubey riding on her shoulder, she curiously starts looking around. Madoka hasn't been in here before, so she needs a moment to take it all in. The atmosphere, the smells, it all seems pretty pleasant. She smiles brightly, and then quickly realizes that she might be blocking someone's way, so she steps away from the entrance.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
One can live on delviery for only so long. Then one is forced to do something else.

For most, that means cooking a meal your own self...but in some cases, the skills only extend to 'toss something in the microwave/air fryer'...and even THAT gets tiring after a while.

Which is what sit-down resturaunts are for.

Thus, Setsuna Meiou decides that going out and having a sit-down meal for a change is the order of the evening. Besides which, it means that she'll get a chance to go out and actually interact with other human beings...which is a thing she's REALLY enjoing being able to do again.

Of course, word around the campus mentions a place where one can go to get good food and try Japanese/Indian fusion food.

Thus it is that moments after Madoka enters, the tall form of Setsuna does as well, though she's dressed down a lot, wearing a pair of baggy jeans and a shortsleeved black t-shirt with an orange tanktop over it. As she enters, she sees Madoka stepping aside, and she follows suit, offering a polite, "Greetings, Miss Kaname."

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    It didn't hurt that Korma had really good food. Niji had only really been in town for a few days before she first stopped by - or rather, was taken there by a pack of also ravenously hungry football(soccer) teammates. Over her first week, it's kind of become one of her default haunts - it's always full of people and things to do and Niji despises boredom, and, contrary to some popular belief, can't spend every moment of every day engrossed in physical activity. Also, the Korma has really good food.

    So she's one of those walking in the door in her (somewhat unkempt) Radiant Heart Academy uniform, though it was probably something that people's eyes noticed long after her ponytail of many-colored hair. One of the girls that Niji sees right off is the purple-haired Chiyo, who she knows is at least in her grade. Of course she's also one of the quiet ones, but being quiet is almost a foreign concept to Niji, like choosing to voluntarily study or staying inside on a clear sunny day.

    "Heyhey!" she says, quickly, and then she's next to Chiyo pretty quickly. "You're in my grade, right?" she asks. "But we haven't met? We could fix that over some curry, though, if you wanted."

    She turns around and sees Madoka as well. She has less of an excuse to drag her into sharing a table with her though. Not that it particularly stops her from wanting to. Time is just more fun with more people around. And then Setsuna, the very tall, enters alongside Madoka. She somehow has managed to avoid seeing the nurse but guesses that is not a long-term situation, so she has at least made sure she knew the way to the office, and has seen Setsuna and knows who she is, at least from a school job perspective. Not so much the rest. But right now, most of her focus is with Chiyo, because more friends is more fun, but eating alone is a dull experience.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Today was a busier day than usual for Ikiko. Sure, summer vacation had just started, so classes weren't an issue, but there were still stray dogs across Tokyo to visit, and she had taken on the added task of reviving the succulents that had been in the pots of her friends and herself! That meant picking up supplies for the plants, getting them settled into temporary planters (with pottery shards instead of labels), carefully tending to them... and there's still more to do over the next several days, like finding long-term replacement pots that reasonably match the originals!

But for now, the succulents are recovering, and that's worth at least a small celebration! Which means, time for good food!

Ikiko arrives just after Niji does, and the younger girl's eyes track the rainbow-haired girl for a curiosity-fueled moment. Ah, she's talking to Chiyo, and Madoka's over here, and... is that the school nurse? Ikiko hasn't had a reason to go to the infirmary yet, so Setsuna had only been seen occasionally in passing, and hadn't actually met her yet.

"Hi, sensei! Hi, Madoka-san! Hi, Chiyo-chan!" Ikiko smiles to the others in turn as she walks over to the friend she knows the best out of the bunch. Indicating Niji with a tilt of her head, Ikiko adds, "Is this a friend of yours, Chiyo-chan?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai looks almost dejected at first when she sees no one she recognizes already here. Usually when she came in there would be at least one of the group she'd begun to consider close friends. Niji's sudden exuberant introduction pulls her away from such thoughts at least.

"Oh? Ah... Yes, we are in the same class," she agrees quietly. It wasn't that she was trying to whisper, her voice was just naturally a bit on the quiet side. Perhaps this was the reason she was so quiet in class to begin with? The offer of getting to know one another better draws a pleased smile at the offer. "Yes, I'd like that very much. I'm Chiyo Sakai--" She begins to introduce when Ikiko comes in greeting in turn.

THERE was a familiar face! Chiyo's smile warms further. "Ikiko-chan hello! And..." Oh the other two were familiar enough. She'd been to the nurse at least once recently though not for anything serious. Madoka looked vaguely familiar--Moreso because of Kyubey on her shoulder.

For just a moment Chiyo forgets to speak while staring openly at the creature. Where had she seen that before? There's a vague recollection... very vague... Before the thought is shaken off. It couldn't be that important, right? It's not like she saw the critter hovering over Madoka's passed out form while fighting a big orange youma slinging dippin dots or something.

"Ah! Maybe we should all get a table?" She hazards quietly. "Since we're all from the same school. You're welcome too, sensei."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka is a bit surprised to see the School Nurse here. What a coincidence! She smiles sheepishly and says formally, "Hello, Meiou-sensei. I didn't expect to run into you today!" The pinkette tilts her head to the side before admitting, "I actually haven't been here before yet, but I've heard good things!"

    Kyubey's red beady eyes stare up at the School Nurse for a moment, silent as the grave. His tail swishes back and forth, but he's otherwise motionless. Madoka assumes he's invisible to everyone else here, so she acts like he isn't there. He only glances in Chiyo's direction once he feels eyes on her.

    Madoka notices Chiyo and Niji, or rather, she notices that there are other Radiant Heart students here. One of them she recognizes from Club Recruitment the other day. She waves to Chiyo. "Oh, hey! You were with the manga club, right? I thought I remembered you from the recruitment drive."

    Ikiko, also she recognizes, from a couple different places. Madoka knows her as the cute kid who likes to talk to animals. She still hasn't figured out that they talk back. "Hii~, Ikiko-san! How have you been?"

    At Chiyo's offer, she nods, "Sure! My name's Madoka Kaname!" She doesn't introduce Kyubey.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna smiles at all the apparently happy young women that surround her. Glancing around at all of them, she hrms as an idea strikes her. She's been looking to socialize with people, and she's had an idea that will help facilitate that as well as let her observe some of her charges in a more relaxed setting.

Thus it is she says, "Miss Hisakata, Miss Dasshu, Miss Kaname...if I might suggest...perhaps we might all share a table and get acquainted as Miss Sakai has suggested? I certainly wouldn't mind if all you young ladies don't mind the company of an old woman such as myself."

She glances at Kyubey for a moment, and when he gives her a beady-eyed stare, she pauses...then arches her eyebrow at him...but she IS able to read the room and tell that MOST people aren't reacting to the...whatever it is, so she soon looks away.

Anyone who CAN see it, however, will probably notice her looking at it.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    Niji thinks all of them getting a table together is the best idea she's ever heard. Well, the best idea she's heard in the last 60 seconds, and for her those two concepts were a lot closer together than they probably ought to be. "Oh, that does sound good." It doesn't just sound good, it sounds like the idea she had, but the quiet girl expressed it pretty confidently. It probably helped that she knew at least one of the younger girls, though. "Oh, and the food here is great, Kaname-san." Niji says with a broad smile. "Totally football team approved. Like one of the first things they did was bring me here. Also the volleyball team. Also the baseball team." she says, remembering each and then blinking a bit. "Look, I'm just saying it's real popular."

    "You're not old." Niji adds to Setsuna. She has very little filter. "But it might be nice to meet a school nurse in person in a better circumstance than usual. I'm bound to end up in your care at some point - sorry it's pretty much inevitable." she admits, shrugging her shoulders. "But yeah. I'm starvin', and it's also probably better for the staff seating here to lay claim to a table in a big group too." Niji cannot see Kyubey, and to her it just looks like Madoka has a little bit more attention than normal?

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Now that she isn't distracted by unusually-unusual hair colors and recognition of friends, Ikiko finally notices Kyubey -- at about the same time Setsuna does. He hadn't been in line-of-sight to her on club recruitment day, and things were hectic enough at the beach fight that she probably hadn't noticed Homura's RPG wearing quad-ears as a hood ornament... but here, with things calm? Yeah, he's noticeable, and noteworthy -- especially if Setsuna's raised eyebrow was anything to go by.

"Been keeping busy," Ikiko ruefully answers Madoka. "Club-related projects, plus a few other things." Well, the former technically wasn't a lie; she's in the Animal Care club, after all, and she takes care of the animals (specifically, the stray dogs) of Tokyo.

It's just not an officially related project.

Niji's listing of the various sports teams sparks her memory a bit: some chatter from a variety of her classmates, each talking about the middleschool senpai in their related sports clubs, with the occasional argument of which sport was her primary one. "Sounds like you're pretty popular among the sports clubs, senpai," Ikiko notes.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai looks down to her hands which clutch at her bag and the little side pocket where her phone rests to withdraw her phone and simply hold onto it. The little Bao charm that dangles off of it bounces lightly against her fingers a few times. Her gaze lifts up again, smile returning a bit as she tries to ease her uncertainty over such a *strange* looking creature. No one else was reacting so maybe it was another spirit, like Bonito. Though he usually didn't mind if people saw him so long as he was in disguise. Her gaze settles on Setsuna wondering if she was seeing the same thing.

This wasn't the place so she quickly shakes the thought off by turning to gesture to the larger of a few tables, one she'd sat at before herself several times. "We should all be comfortable here," she suggests moving over to sink down into a seat herself, fiddling idly with the phone in her lap.

Madoka's recollection earns another smile. "Yes, that's right! I'm in the manga club, and... and the flower arrangement club. It's a cultural one. It's not very exciting, but it's relaxing."

Niji's listing of clubs causes her to blink slowly at the other girl. "You must be very talented. One of the boys in baseball club keeps wanting me to join but I don't think that's right for me." A tip of her head is given toward Ikiko. "Ikiko-chan, you're always busy with your clubs, too. Taking care of all the stray animals. It's very impressive."

A thought strikes her, and to help try to keep the teacher in the conversation she quietly asks, "Were you in any clubs when you were our age, sensei?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka looks up at the school nurse who seems to notice Kyubey. Her pink eyes widen and she leans back slightly.

    What, first Inai-sensei, and now Meiou-sensei too?

    Well... if the school nurse can see magical things, that's gonna make certain issues a bit more convenient in the future. Madoka gives Setsuna a sheepish grin, and silently notes to bring this up later..

    Madoka turns towards Kyubey and frowns suddenly, as if annoyed at something he said, and then looks away. He tilts his head at her curiously, as if not understanding her silent objection.

    <I'm just saying, if you wanted to talk to them privately, telepathy might be an option. I'd be more than happy to help.>

    <I don't want to owe you anything.>

    <I don't know what Homura Akemi told you about me, but I assure you I only have the best of intentions.>

    <Even if I did, we'd be leaving people out of the conversation, and it wouldn't be fair.>

    It's then that Madoka looks around and notices a couple of others looking at Kyubey. This is probably just as the creature intended. After all, the more magically-aware people Madoka knows, the more likely she might want to help. She turns slightly pale for a moment, but it passes. Madoka is quiet for a moment until she takes her seat at the table. Settling in, the pinkette decides not to say anything about it.

    Quickly finding something else to talk about, Madoka focuses on Niji with a bright smile. "Wow! You must be really athletic. Do you like sports?" When she hears about Chiyo's clubs, Madoka laughs, "Oh, geeze. I guess I'm the odd one out. I used to be into Gardening and Crafts Clubs, but that kinda fell by the wayside."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
As the group gets led to a table, Setsuna quietly gets the attention of the server and with a subtle waving of a credit card and a little hand signal to indicate herself and the other girls, she lets the waitress know that their dinner is on her.

On the quiet, she's resolved to pay quite a bit more attention to Madoka...whatever that...mascot is, it's very much NOT natural. Whether or not it's a THREAT...well, that's to be determined...but given that it's being passive at the moment and she REALLY wants to try the food here...she'll give it a pass for now. Mentally, however, she does the 'got my eyes on you' gesture at Kyubey.

Not that anyone besides HER is likely to be able to tell that.

Still.

It's the PRINCIPLE of the thing.

As she takes a seat, Setsuna blinks at Chiyo's question...seemingly caught flat-footed by the fairly straightforward, innocent question. Her expression certainly isn't one of offense. Instead, she looks a little poleaxed and unsure how to answer. After a few moments she shakes her head and takes a moment to visibly compose herself before saying, "Truth be told, no. I was more or less homeschooled."

She takes a moment of grabbing a menu and glancing at it to reset her composure a little, then smiles and says, "Oh, before I forget to mention, this is all on me. To mangle a quote from a movie, you girls may be younger and faster, but I'm older and far better paid, so feel free to order anything you want."

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    Niji blinks, turning to look at Ikiko, and then smiles a big, almost impish grin, and puts her hand behind her head. "Well, I am pretty awesome." she says, without a hint of self-reflection or tact. "But, I can't imagine why I would've gotten an invitation to this school, otherwise. I'm not an eggh- I'm not good at classwork and stuff." Then she pauses and scratches the back of her head. "Oh, I'm sorry, I've been like, super-rude. Everybody else has given names but I haven't. My name's Niji Dasshu. I just moved into the dorms like, a week ago. My family's back in Aomori." she says.

After this she moves to sit down with the group, and looks to Chiyo. "Well, part of me says that I should convince you to join, but... pushing people into stuff they're not feeling is kind of not my style. If you don't want to you don't want to and that's cool. I will say it's fun, though." she asys with a smile. "But... what's right for you... yeah, I get that one. I'm still trying to find out what's right for me, really. I do a lot but it still feels like I'm missing somethin'..."

    Turning to Madoka, she adds "I mean really, I love sports and competing." She dramatically punches her fist into her other open hand. "Pushing yourself do your best, win or lose, and working alongside others, all focused on the same goal? I love it." she admits. "But I don't just do them all because I enjoy them. I think I'm still looking for something. Most of my teammates, they only do one thing at a time, they have a 'calling', I think someone said. And as long as I split my attention I'm not gonna be the best, but whatever I'm supposed to do..." And then she pauses and blinks again, putting her hand back behind her head and looking sheepish. "Sorry, I guess all that personal stuff I've been thinking about came out. Sorry sorry! To answer the questions, yeah I really do love team sports." she continued.

    And then she turns to look at Setsuna. "Oh, I bet at least they 'tried' to get you to play basketball, right Meiou-sempai? Like, how could they not." Another pause, like her brain was catching up with her mouth. "Oh I hope it's not coming off as insensitive. It's just like, probably the first thing people notice about you, it's one of the things that makes you stand out. But in a good way!" Unlike Niji's hair, though, she didn't choose it.

    Then Meiou-sensei explains she was homeschooled and she nods. "Oh well yeah, probably hard to have much of a basketball team if you were homeschooled, yeah." She offers to pay for anything, and Niji leans a little closer, her eyebrow raised a bit. "Alright, now you're my favorite school nurse ever."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko beams at Chiyo's compliment, then earperks at Madoka's mention of previously being in Gardening club. "I might ask you for some plant care tips later, Madoka-san," she murmurs, thinking about the succulents.

Setsuna's mention of being homeschooled, and missing out on stuff because of that, draws a nod from Ikiko. "Sometimes there are things that can only be learned at home," she remarks cryptically, thinking of her family's lessons about family lore and safety when dealing with curses.

Niji's declaration of loving to play team sports also draws a nod from her; working together is more enjoyable than working alone!

    (Especially when one is part wolf.)

"Nice to meet you, Dasshu-senpai! I hope you find what truly calls to you, whatever it is," Ikiko beams at the colorful sportsgirl.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Oh, really? Is that... is it okay? I can pay..." Chiyo starts to protest when Setsuna offers to pay so boldly. Though she falls quiet again soon enough realizing she didn't have much of an argument to back up her own insistance. Instead she dips her head forward respectfully accepting the offer. "Thank you, sensei!"

The talk from the others earns a hesitant glance around. "Do you all live in the dorms? I know I have the option to, but I couldn't decide if I should or not since I live so close by, and help Ojiisan at the shop." Maybe it would be good for her though to be closer to those her own age. "I guess I should decide before Summer break is over."

Her head tilts to the side toward Niji with a nod of agreement to Ikiko's words. "Yes, there's nothing wrong trying many things until you find what you like. I feel like I should try more. I just don't want to become too busy." She had a LOT of things to do these days between school, and work, and the occasional youma popping up she'd hop in to help with.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka hesitates as Meiou offers to pay for the food, but she's not about to refuse such generosity. Instead, Meiou gets a "Thank you, sensei," from the polite little pinkette. Money isn't really an issue for Madoka, but bringing that up after Setsuna was kind enough to offer seems a bit rude.

    To Niji she smiles brightly, though there's a touch of commiseration in her eyes. "Yeah, I guess I'm still looking too in a way. It'd be nice to have something that I could be passionate about. I don't have any obvious talents, though. "

    Kyubey hops down from her shoulder to stand on the table, then gives her a blank stare. She looks down on the cabbit with confusion in her eyes. <That's not true at all, Madoka Kaname. If you're looking for something to do with your life, I sincerely hope you'll consider my offer.> The cabbit thing stretches his back in a catlike fashion, before starting to plod off. <Still, if I'm not needed here, then I'll be on my way. I hope we'll speak again soon!>

    The creature vanishes. Where did it go? No one knows. To anyone who could see the creature but couldn't hear the conversation, it probably just looked like it wandered off on its own. To those who can't see it at all, it might just look like Madoka thought of something weird and made a face. The pinkette seems a little less tense now, though. Kyubey wasn't able to drag her into a conversation about how cool magic is today, but its goals have still been slightly furthered. For someone with her potential, he wont give up so easy.

    When Ikiko asks about plants, Madoka turns towards her and nods her head emphatically. "I'd be happy to. If I don't have an answer, I could always ask my dad. He's way more into that than me!" She has no idea what misadventure those poor plants have been through.

    She shakes her head at Chiyo. "Nope! My house is nearby, so I'm still with my parents. They probably want me to babysit my little brother now that I'm not in school."

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    Niji smiles. "Oh, yes. Thank you Sensei." she says, pausing her runaway train of thought to turn to the nurse and give her a stiff-if-formal bow. While seated. "Your generosity is appreciated. Also still what I said about being the best nurse ever."

    She turns to Madoka, upon hearing what she said. Looking at her like she just uttered some sort of severe blasphemy. Then she pauses for a moment and smiles. "Well, that just means you have non-obvious talents, Kaname-san." she said. "But everybody has talents, has things they're good at. I've heard several people tell me they didn't but every time they were proven wrong either themselves, by me, or someone else. It just takes the right sort of moments to bring it out of you." she says, and she has just the biggest, most affirming smile she can muster without it looking fake. Because it's not! "I'm positive about it!"

    Joining in on the rest of the conversation after that, she sighs contendly. "I gotta admit, it was nice to get the invitation to come here and live in the dorms. I love my parents, I really do, but they can be a bit... much. Let's just say it's nice not having my parents trying to cheer me on at practice not to mention being the loudest at every event." she admits, putting her hand to her face and just sound exasperated remembering it. "So yeah I guess it depends on if you feel like you get enough of em' when you're working at the shop, I guess, is the closest thing I can give to advice."

    "Oh, right, clubs. You said you were part of the Animal Care Club now, Ikiko? So you get to just like, pet and feed warm fuzzy things for club time? That honestly sounds pretty good." she said, smiling to the other girl - she's got at least enough tact to try to avoid making everything about her. It's just the success of that which tends to be more up in the air.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna orders a few plates of varius appetizers to share around the table, as well as a large order of butter chicken with sticky rice for herself. As she waits for others to order and food to eventually start arriving, she produces a pair of black enameled chopsticks with gold highlights from...somewhere and begins absently rolling them across the knuckles of her right hand. She nods to the other girls, then settles back to wait a little, pondering the scene she just saw between Kyubey and Madoka. She couldn't hear their conversation...but there were enough little tells in behavior to make it reasonably clear that it WAS communicating somehow. An absent glance is given at the thing as it jumps down.

To an outsider, it'll just look like she's randomly glancing about...but to those who can see, it's another sign that she CAN see it, too.

All of which just serves to move Madoka up in her list of 'people to watch for'.

Because she DOES have at least ONE ulterior motive tonight beyond what she'd stated, even if she hadn't gone out this evening planning such to happen.

She is, after all, trying to find her Queen's daughter and her court. Their souls were cast forward through the ages to roughly now by the Queen's final gambit...but time, damage, and magic have robbed her of the direct knowledge she needs. Thus, she has to rely on...subtler means.

In this case...she knows that the Queen's spell would have relied heavily on Destiny...so she knows Destiny will start pulling the Princess and her court together. Thus, she's been keeping her eyes out for any students that stand out as particularly unique individually that suddenly start drawing together, as such groups will be much more likely to contain her Princess.

She then arches an eyebrow at Niji's comment about her being the rainbow haired girl's 'favorite school nurse ever', then smiles an amused little smile and asks, "...and just how extensive a list does that put me at the top of?"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"And feathery, and scaly, and crawly," Ikiko giggles in confirmation to Niji. "Some of the club members have surprisingly... unusual pets." Like an incredibly intelligent 'dog' that doesn't speak Canine, but does know how to serve punch.

Kyubey's departure is noted with a slightly raised eyebrow, as is Madoka's faint relief at his departure. So, likely not a friend of the pinkette, but not... actively hostile to Madoka?

Maybe she could ask the older girl about it when they're talking about the succulents back at the dorms.

"Thank you for the food, Sensei!" Ikiko beams to Setsuna, then proceeds to gather a small sampler of the appetizers present -- enough to get a taste of each them, so she can learn which ones she likes.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
The conversation around the table continues while Chiyo starts to reach for a menu to glance it over. She's only just started to decide on what to get for herself when Kyubey jumps down to the center of the table.

And Chiyo jumps a little in her seat in reaction.

Quickly she tries to cover it up by raising a hand to cover her mouth with a little clearing of her throat. "Sorry. Hiccup." Red-faced from her nerves being so on edge over the strange creature hopping down and vanishing she fixes her gaze on the menu reading it over quickly. "Samosas. Those are always good."

With that decided on her part the menu is lain back on the tabletop, and she fiddles with her phone idly again.

"Oh, Ikiko-chan helps out with many of the strays by feeding them. It's very noble of her and the club to do so!" She wasn't aware what else went on in the animal care club, but she had seen the younger girl out and about doing that at least. "You're trying to help with the plants from the other day too, right? I feel bad I lost mine. I really hadn't meant to fall asleep like that." Her lips purse with a small frown thinking back. She really HAD been out of it with her energy drained as much as it had been. No reason to dwell on it now, at least.

"I could help too, I guess? If you need more help with them."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka looks up at Niji as the sporty girl says something which will surely not be prophetic in any way, shape or form at some point down the line. The right sort of moments? Well, maybe that will happen one day for Madoka. She would like to think she was good at something. It'd probably boost her confidence quite a bit.

    Setsuna's eye movements aren't unnoticed by Madoka, who glances at the school nurse and mentally reassures herself that she's not just imagining the sensei's reaction. The pinkette covers her mouth to hide a smile at Meiou-sensei's savvy response to Niji's flattery. Chiyo's reaction was hard to miss too, and now Madoka knows at least three more people who are magically aware. Well maybe that just means they wont look at her funny if she brings this up later.

    Madoka very much remembers Ikiko's interaction to all the cute animals at the club party the other day, still thinking it was adorable. When the pinkette notices her looking at Kyubey, she frowns slightly. The idea that someone so young could be caught up in something that, to Madoka, has been nothing but scary feels unfair. On the other hand, Ikiko doesn't have the same sadness in her eyes that Puella Magi tend to, so maybe it's not too bad for her.

    "You help out strays, too? You really care about animals, don't you?" she asks.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    To Setsuna, Niji looks a little embarassed. "Well..." she starts counting on her fingers. "... maybe three?" she says. "More, if you count just like all of the nurses who've had to treat me, of which you're the only one who's bought lunch. Or done much other than bandage me and complain about taking risks or something... But it probably helps that I met you at a resteraunt." she admits.

    Niji nods at Ikiko. "That actually just sounds even more fun. If there's ever a day when I've managed to not schedule practice or something, or if... if I have to see Meiou-sensei and she tells me not to run around for a little bit..." she winces, having experienced that a few times "... would it be cool if I stopped by?" she asks.

    "Thank you for the food." she says politely before reaching over and making some of the appetizers vanish into her mouth. Girl eats fast. Like, 'Setsuna pulling chopsticks out of the air' fast, but making food vanish instead.

    She tilts her head and looks at the menu. "Hmm. Samosas? I've never had those. They sound pretty good though. I might order the same thing." She also can't be worrying about being the most expensive person Setsuna is having to pay for if she orders the same thing as another girl, she reasons. And something about it all makes her feel just a little bit uneasy - or as uneasy as carefree Niji can feel - because sometimes it seems like the other girls are all looking at something she doesn't notice, and like there's a certain uneasiness she can't place amongst some of them. And yet, surely, they were introducing each other so they don't have any more connections than Niji does to them, right?

    "Maybe we should all help Hisakata-san some time. I'm sure if she's feeding all the strays plus all of those strange animals, she could use some occasional help?" she offers. Truth be told, Niji has had some small difficulty connecting with her teammates - because she has a passion for competition, and not a passion for an individual sport. She doesn't follow famous players or anything. And part of her is still looking to find, not just that place where she belongs, but people she belongs with outside of helping them win at a game. "Also like, adorable things to pet. Win-win?" she pauses. "Oh, I suppose Meiou-sensei is probably too busy for things like that..." she says, looking at the nurse, and kind of sad in her eyes, like she realizes Setsuna can't just abandon what she's doing to go pet dogs or whatever other whim she has , and it makes Niji sad for her, to have to do the same thing without the ability to change her role. She has no IDEA how long Setsuna has been in a totally different role without the ability to change.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
There's a slight pause as Ikiko thinks about how to phrase her acceptance of Chiyo's offer of help. "I think the additional visit will be good, Chiyo-chan," she finally smiles. Good for the succulents to know that they're loved, and good for Chiyo to know her succulent was rescued (even if the pot was mostly unsalvageable). But that latter bit of info would probably be best delivered in private, instead of among a group like this.

Madoka's compliment makes the younger girl smile. "Dogs in particular," Ikiko confirms. "I like them, and they like me." And being able to actually speak with them definitely helps in that regard!

There's a slight giggle at Niji's offer. "Well, the other club members do take care of their own pets, so it's not like I'm feeding all of them," she grins. "And students visiting the club is fine; if a student is thinking about getting a pet, sometimes they visit so they can learn what that type of pet is like, what care it needs, and stuff like that."

Also, a plate of samosas for her; they were tasty the last time she was here, and it seemed to be a common theme today, so... why not?