297/Coffee or tea... chocolate!

Coffee or tea... chocolate!
Date of Scene:	24 August 2023
Location:	Gullwing Coffee
Synopsis:	Chocolate cake and chatter over hot beverages, Naru and Ami discuss hobbies!
Cast of Characters:	Ami Mizuno, Naru Osaka

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Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno really doesn't care that it's between terms. She's taken a few books from her (admittedly way too large) textbook collection to brush up on a few old concepts from last year before the new semester starts. Despite practically having a library in her backpack, she manages not to take up too much room at the four-top she's occupying. Only using half the table is really good for Ami!

She taps her pencil on her notebook a moment. Even Ami can't help but daydream sometimes, and she's thinking of a certain silver-haired boy from the class above her. A steaming cup of green tea tells that she's not been lost in thought too long, at least.

Naru Osaka has posed:
This coffee shop has the advantage of having gorgeous views. Naru has a coffee, a slice of chocolate cake and fortunately her satchel is slung across her body, not requiring a hand. She spots Ami already seated and her smile warms.

"Ami!" They're in the same classes, it's not a stretch that the pair are familiar with each other. Naru moves over towards the table and loiters there. "Mind if I join you?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami looks up, startled and feeling a little guilty. "Oh! Hi, Naru. Absolutely, come sit!" She starts to pack away her stuff. It's a notebook, a textbook, and a pencil case missing a pencil, it's fine. Everything's fine. Ami puts her pencil back in the bag and looks up as Naru sits. "Hey!" she says cheerfully. "I hope you've had a nice term break?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Oh you don't need to pack things up.. you're fine!" Naru hurries to assure her. "I've got plenty of room." She really does have half the table, more than enough for a coffee and a dessert plate.

"It's been.. a busy break. I've no idea how I'm going to add school back in, but we'll manage. How about you?" She unloops her satchel from around her, settling it on the spare chair. "Having a good break?" She nods towards the textbooks and grins, her voice lightly teasing. "Studying what you want, rather than what's required."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami shrugs. "Too late," she says to Naru cheerfully. Then she picks up her slightly cooler tea, cupping her hands around it. "Yep," Ami says with a grin, nodding. "Brushing up on some concepts I was slightly iffy about!" Her smile widens to a cheerful thing. "That cake looks decadent," she adds, before eyeing the counter. "Maybe I should go get something later..." But she stays seated and sips her tea, making a contented little noise after.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"If you're alright with sharing, I can never finish the whole thing." Naru nudges the cake a little closer. It's not even a politeness thing, she's eternally bringing home half desserts to eat later. Or for Usagi to inhale, because her bestie is generous like that.

"I have to admit, I generally would rather learn new things than do review of last year's stuff." Naru comments as she sips from her hot hot hot coffee. She blows a little on the cup before setting it down to let her tongue recover a moment.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Oh, that'd be lovely," Ami says with a nod and a smile. "I'm always a fan of chocolate." She scrounges a bit but produces a perfectly clean, perfectly working fork, and takes a tiny bite of the rich cake. "Oh, wow," she says, eyes wide. "That's incredible." She takes a moment to sip her tea to wash it down.

"That's fair," Ami says with a nod. "I love learning, but I'm also--this sounds silly," she interrupts herself, blushing a bit. "But I'm always afraid I'll forget something if I don't brush up occasionally." Her laugh is small, and a little off somehow. "I sometimes have nightmares about forgetting how to study," she adds, with another nervous giggle. Ami, having stress dreams? Who would've thought?

Naru Osaka has posed:
"They have such good desserts here." Naru has to agree, as she takes a small bit from the other side of the cake. Clearly an excellent plan to cool off her faintly burnt tongue. Chocolate will make it all better.

"Awww.. your brain is such a jerk to you!" Naru makes a little face. "I don't think you're going to forget how to study, even if you didn't for weeks at a time! It's habit by now, I expect we'll still feel like we need to study for months after we graduate."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami nods about the cake, but her smile is muted as she takes another small bite. "My brain can be," she agrees sadly. "I'm sure I'll never forget how to study, honestly, at this rate. Between cram school and everything else..." She shrugs, but her smile is a little happier now.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru takes another bite of the cake before setting her fork down, and going digging into her satchel. "Do you mind if I sketch while we chat? You might be filling your break with more studying, but I've been filling mine with a lot of art, and I am just at a spot that's a lot of busy work. Not a lot of brain power, but a lot of time."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Oh, sure, sketch away," Ami says, smiling. "Art is beauty, and art is power." She nods. "I like how powerful art can be!" She leans back in her seat a bit before taking a sip of the tea in front of her. The chocolate cake isn't clashing with the honey in her green tea. In fact, it's an interesting combination.

"I understand busy work," the bluenette says with a mock-glower at her backpack. "I think I take notes the way most people doodle." She shrugs self-deprecatingly. "I like to know stuff."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Awesome, thank you." Naru digs her sketchbook out of her satchel, flipping through a collection of sketches to get to her current one. A pencil is next, digging that out too.

True to her word, she is doing some sort of cross hatching, or shading across whatever she's working on, and it doesn't seem to inturrupt her conversation at all. "I've always been fond of art, but it seems like I haven't quite found my style as solidly as I might like."

A little wrinkle of her nose. "Everything seems in flux right now, it's not surprising that so many of us are too." Naru gives a little shrug, accepting of that reality.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami nods, but doesn't expand on things being in flux. "What are you working on?" she asks instead, looking at the paper in front of Naru with interest. She asks a few questions about the art style, too.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru pauses just a moment before she sets her pencil down long enough to collect up her coffee and take another sip. "Currently I've been working on a series that started with .. dreams.. and now just extends to various weirdnesses, wherever my inspirations might come from." Her smile is easy, even if that really wasn't all that much of an answer.

The sketch she's working on seems to be a lot of vines, or that's what it looks like at this stage at least. "I tend to ultimately go from pencil sketches to machine embroidery with embellishments, but I've been playing with watercolours of late, and really enjoying it, so I might defect over to the fine art side."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami nods, her eyes on the drawing. Even upside down, it's sure something. "I like it," she declares after a moment's study. She surprises herself with the declarative statement, but nods and smiles. "Ooh, do you make patches?" Ami asks, looking up at Naru curiously.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Thank you." Naru accepts the compliment easily and simply.

At the mention of patches, Naru ums softly. "I haven't no.. but there's no reason I couldn't I suppose? I've never considered it. All of my embroidery is done freehand, rather than by an embroidery machine."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami ohs! "You mentioned machine embroidery a moment ago. I think I misunderstood," Ami says, blushing faintly. "Ah well, it happens."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"It's a common misperception.. " Naru pauses and then shakes her head. "No, not quite misconception.. there's two techniques that share a name. One is what you.. and most people.. think of. Where you give the machine the design and off it goes. It moves the fabric all by itself, and you just give it each colour in turn."

Naru pauses to take another forkful of chocolate cake, savouring the flavour in the lull between explinations. "Ahh. So good. Anyhow.. the machine embroidery I do uses a regular sewing machine, but I'm the one who moves it around and makes the design, and often with embellishments and other extras."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Oh, that's really cool!" Ami says, listening raptly. "What kind of designs do you do? Other than your drawing, I mean. And do you sew as well?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I generally do my own art, whatever things come to mind." Naru chuckles softly. "Often fairly abstract, or impressionistic rather than photorealistic. There's /some/ photorealistic machine embroiderers, but they are rare. The medium isn't well suited to it, which I suppose makes it all the more impressive."

Naru nods. "I can sew. I don't often, but I can sew. You mean like sewing clothes and the like, yes?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"That makes sense," Ami says with a smile. "And yeah, being photorealistic in thread would be a challenge!" Then she nods. "I just wonder, because I have a friend, Makoto Kino, who's into baking and I think sewing, too. She's sweet." A shrug. "Just wondering if you know her."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"No, I haven't met her yet." Naru shakes her head a little. "I certianly know the name, she's in our grade afterall." Her smile is easy and warm. "I'd happily get to know her better though."

Naru picks up her pencil again, to go back to shading. No matter than she is likely to be transferring this to fabric later.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami nods with a grin. "She's an excellent cook and baker. I'm going to Mako's apartment with my roommate, Hannah Steiner, to bake some time." She gets all shy again. "I hope I don't screw up. But, baking is chemistry you can eat... so..." A little shrug.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"If you do screw it up.. just eat the evidence." Naru points out with a little giggle. "It's not the end of the world. Certainly everything I've baked hasn't been perfect." She quirks her head a little. "Odd that she has an apartment when we're a boarding school, though." She shrugs, a puzzle, but clearly not the end of the world, one way or another.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami nods, giggling with Naru. Then she shrugs. "I'm not sure, admittedly, but she's a very cool person," she says with a smile.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Well then. I hope I get to know her better sometime." Naru smiles at that. She finishes her coffee, nudging the rest of the cake towards Ami. Clearly she's had enough.. she almost had half! Ish. Nearly.

"I should probably get going." Naru flips her sketchbook closed and tucks it into her satchel. "It was lovely to chat. Enjoy your studying."