1033/A Happy Pancake

A Happy Pancake
Date of Scene:	23 January 2024
Location:	A Happy Pancake
Synopsis:	A Happy Pancake, in Ginza, Tokyo, is the battleground for breakfast. Okay, less battleground and more breakfast.
Cast of Characters:	Nephrite, Naru Osaka, Mamoru Chiba, Pyrite, Amanda Faust

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Nephrite has posed:
    Azabu-Juuban, Minato City, is only a short train ride away from Ginzo, to the north-east, where the famous A Happy Pancake restaurant is located. It's not even open yet, and there's already a line stretching all the way around the building. It should open in about five minutes, but then there's the waiting, often for an hour or more. It just doesn't have the capacity, and it takes ~25 minutes to get your food after you've ordered.

    Even so, it's worth it.

    The lightest, fluffiest pancakes known to man or youma kind.

    Masato is standing near the front of the line (some tourists beat him to the very front, those villains), in a long coat, maroon shirt, and a pale-yellow scarf around his neck. He has his hands in his pockets because cold.

Naru Osaka has posed:
It's winter, and Naru isn't crazy enough to go places without a warm coat, and scarf and a orange fleece hat wiht fox ears on it. Woolie tights keep her legs warm even though she's one of those who wears skirts all winter. Even when not in school uniform.

Naru looks up and smiles as she spots Masato already in line, giving him a little wave as she comes closer. "Morning!"

Happy Pancakes are worth getting up early and getting into line for.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's chilly enough that Mamoru's got black leather gloves on (that go with his black leather blazer-length jacket) and his glasses are going to fog when they get inside. Jacket's zipped up, but it's being worn with unremarkable almost-skinny-jeans and dress shoes. He's following along behind Naru, wearing a face mask instead of a scarf because he can tuck it under his glasses a lot more easily.

"Morning, Neph! I'm still not sure if Usa is getting up to join us or not," he says with a laugh, shoulders hunched in a little from the cold. "If she is, I guess she better get here quick," he adds, taking his watch out to check the time.

Pyrite has posed:
    Himeko has found it harder and harder to be visible and audible to others over the past several weeks. Spirit mediums like her brother are still able to perceive her as clearly as ever, but she can tell she's fading gradually now that she is fully a ghost again. Somehow, being near Galatea helps with that though. So, Himeko, in teal leggings with over-sized socks bunched up around her ankles, a pair of sneakers, and a windbreaker with the Engrish, 'W A N T T O U N I C O R N !!' over a picture of an elephant on the back, is standing next to a girl who looks almost identical to her, but with white hair instead of black.
    The puppet-girl is wearing the same outfit as Himeko, but has her hair tied back with a black scrunchy, and her jacket says, 'N O, W R E N C H A W A Y' on the back with a wrench crossed out inside the 'O'.

    Himeko is bouncing on her heels, singing a little song to herself. "Pancake, pancake, I want to eat a, pancake, pancake, I am going to eat a, pancake, pancake..."
    Galatea is not singing. She is waiting for Pancake.
    Himeko perks up when she realizes Nii-chan is in the area, and leans out of line half-way to try to spot him. Then, without a hint of shame or guilt, she line-hops up to join Mamoru, Naru, and Masato. Galatea stays behind briefly, unsure what's happening, but moves to join everyone moments later. She stays awkwardly silent, with her eyes mostly aimed at the ground and people's legs.
    Himeko does not stay silent. "Ohayoo, gozaimasu~!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Pancakes are the big deal? Really? Amy remembers eating them regularly when she was young, albeit not so much these past several years in Japan. But they'd be easy to cook in the dorm kitchen any time...

    But after running into Naru and/or Mamoru and asking where they were going, it occured to Amy that this doesn't have to be about the pancakes. It can just be about spending time with friends, something she didn't really... do much before, and something she, a creature of habit, still doesn't really do now. Admittedly, partly because she and her friends spend time together fighting monsters but like, that shouldn't be her only interaction outside of class and clubs!

    Only after getting off the train does she realize she just spent the whole train ride reading manga on her phone. Dammit! Do better!

    Amy approaches A Happy Pancake wearing an oversized green jacket with the hood up, a plaid felt scarf wrapped around her neck over the coat, dark slacks, and her usual sneakers. Note to self: BUY GLOVES THAT FIT. Also her eyes note the animal-ear hat and woolie tights on Naru. Good ideas. She should get stuff like that too. Although she's not sure like. Where? Where do they sell things like that?

    Her eyes widen as she sees the line. "All this over pancakes? I really don't understand young people these days..."

    Himeko remains heart-meltingly cute, even if part of Amy is rolling her eyes at the engrish, a smile comes to her face. Okay, pancakes are a big deal for the ghost who hasn't gotten to eat food in who knows how long, and that's cause for celebration. "It's good to see you again."

    But also, Mamoru is familiar with someone she's... not? She feels like maybe she's seen him around school but not talked to him. She looks up at Nephrite. "Who's your friend, Mamoru?"

Nephrite has posed:
    Masato glances over to spot Mamoru and Naru. He's always happy to see Mamoru, especially now that all five of them are free of Dark Energy, with memories (mostly) unclouded, and no more worry about if they'll all make it out of Metallia's grasp. And he's always VERY happy to see Naru. He has to actually try in order to remain stoically pleased, instead of grin like a dopey fool, or basically like how Mamoru grins at Usagi.

    ....

    So he has to actually try in order to not grin like a dopey fool--

    "Mamoru and Naru," he greets them both with a warmth of familiarity in his voice, and also just happiness. Something scarcely available only a month or two ago.

    A mighty effort is put forth not to comment on the fox-eared garment, instead looking towards Himeko as she pops up out of nowhere once again... With a color-bleached twin? "Good morning."

    And then another person. Though they were both in the same place at two different dances, Amy's face and voice don't ring any bells. "Masato Sanjouin. A pleasure."

    The restaurant opens, and Masato proceeds inside, beckoning his friends and their friends to join him. They'll be some of the first seated. Score.

    Along the way, he sidles up to Naru and mutters, "Very cute hat." before going back to being stoic.

    Soon, all should be seated, and the menu put before them. For those who don't already know what they want, at least, but it's rude to order before everyone is ready!

Naru Osaka has posed:
"How are things?" Naru asks with a bright smile for Masoto. She doesn't attempt stoic, she's never been all that good at it. Instead there's a soft giggle at the compliment to her hat. "Thank you. It's a favourite." She gives a little bob of her head to make her ears wobble. Because nothing says 'silly hat' quite as much as wobbly fox ears.

Naru turns as the group is joined by more and more. "Have you been to Happy Pancake before, Amy?" She asks curiously. Her smile is warm for Himeko too. "Morning."

Not too long waiting, and then a table! The miracle! Naru shrugs out of her coat, tucking hat and scarf into the arm of it so as not to get lost. "There's always too many choices here."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"What he said," Mamoru says cheerfully to Amy, then introduces them properly like a good friend, "and Masato-kun, this is Amy Faust." He leans over towards Neph at the stoic expression and murmurs a tease, "You don't have to be so uptight, Professor."

Then Himeko and Galatea are joining them, and his gloved hands ruffle both their hair like an affectionately annoying brother would -- and he has trouble noticing that Himeko's becoming more ghostlike than she was right after her mother killed Galatea, because he is a medium, he can still touch her...

Once they get inside, he leaves his jacket on but stuffs his gloves in his pockets. He does unzip it, and underneath is a green t-shirt with a yellow jackalope printed on it. He sits down with the others.

Pyrite has posed:
    Where Himeko presses her hand into Mamoru's palm like an affection-starved cat, Galatea's head just kind of... Rolls around. She's not sure how to react to the head pat, but observes her 'sister's reaction and remembers it. Once they are all together in one place, Himeko looks curiously at Amy. They've met before, right? She is sure they met somewhere. Was it at the Doll Shop? Or was it at the eatery, where she ordered potatoes? Yes, to both!
    And also, weren't there other times?
    Yes, it's all coming together now.
    "Are you Sunbreaker-san?" Himeko asks excitedly, coming to the exact wrong conclusion.
    Then Amy is introduced to Masato, and Himeko ahhhhs knowingly in understanding.
    Being Amy Faust does not preclude her from being Sunbreaker, but Himeko knows how to be tactful, so she just keeps theatrically winking at Amy as they file inside, and are seated.
    Then it's time to bounce in her seat with excitement, after helping Galatea onto the booth bench, explaining how menus work, and so on. Himeko is an expert on all of these things, so is happy to be able to teach someone else for a change. She will be the best big sister!
    "Naru-san, Naru-san!" she says happily. "Did you know? The pancakes are made by hand, right here. Is that not amazing?"
    Galatea is busy alternating staring at the menu and looking around at everyone to measure their reactions.
    She hasn't spoken yet, but she is paying attention to everything, and learning from it. Much like Himeko did when she was newly freed from her Shrine.

Amanda Faust has posed:
> Have you been to Happy Pancake before?
    Amy shakes her head. "Nah. I've had pancakes before, and I was a very different kind of tourist. I went to Akihabara years ago." She may be forgetting just who she's told what at this point.

> Himeko and Galatea!
    Amy is surprised by Galatea's presence, and smiles, "It's good to see you two getting along!" She wonders if Galatea can eat pancakes, but supposes they'll find out.

> Are you Sunbreaker-san?
    Uh. What? Amy stares back at her. "No." She just sounds shocked. She opens her mouth to follow up with 'You've seen me transform!' but then wonders: Has she?

    Without further explanation, her denial might just come off as 'yes but no one can know'.

> Masato Sanjouin. A pleasure.
    Amy smiles up at him. "Nice to meet you!"

> The doors are open!
    Amy sticks close to her friends in the crowd. Whenever she's in a press of people like this, she's glad to not be trying to move a big adult body through this crowd while feeling like she's in the way and taking up too much space, but sometimes it hits how she can't see around her at all over anyone's head and she feels kinda like a little kid trying not to get separated from their parents.

> Very cute hat.
    "It is!" Amy enthusiastically chimes in, smiling as she agrees. The ears wobble! So cute!

    Once seated, Amy unzips her coat, pulls her scarf over her head, and shrugs out of the coat. Underneath she has on a green T-shirt with a picture of a simplistic-style chibi cartoon tiger meowing and 'nyo' written over it in romaji. She smiles at Mamoru, "Hey, we match! Kinda." In that they both have green shirts with animals on them.

    Himeko keeps winking at her. Oh my god did being a ghost make her lose her memories? ...Oh right I've mostly interacted with her as a Puella Magi, haven't I. She slumps slightly at the 'I know your secret!' winks. There's something incredibly ironic about this. Like the original idea of the shirt was to see if anyone at Radiant Heart reacted weird and might be in a similar situation to her, but... Amy wonders if anyone who somehow figured out her actual secret would act like this. But they wouldn't be little kids... Well, not inside, anyway. God.

    "I was thinking I'd just have an order of... whatever their most iconic dish is, I guess?" But, she does open her menu and start looking through it, curiously.

Nephrite has posed:
    Masato ponders asking Himeko if she has something in her eye, but thinks better of it. He values his sanity too much to squander it on ghost nonsense. "Their signature pancake is the 'Happy Pancake'," he informs Amy after he has seated himself, removed his scarf and longcoat, and folded them neatly. He sits upon them, with nowhere else to really put them in the booth. Also because he is so large. If Kazuo was here too, they might not be able to seat anyone both the two of them. Okay, not really.

    "Mamoru, I am as loose as I'll ever be without the benefit of inebriation." He pauses, and thinks on the matter of relaxing, and adjusting how he speaks to people. He promised he'd try to remember how to be human again. He isn't sure formal speech is a sign of being inhuman, but... Always using polite Japanese can be off-putting. So... "But I'll work on it."

    "I've been trying to figure out if there is a way to recover all of the things I... Donated. Or at least to get equivalent replacements. But honestly, unless I move back into the mansion, I don't think I have anywhere to put them without dipping into my off-shores accounts. Maybe I should just focus on my wardrobe for now." says the man with more outfits than most teenage girls.

    "I am going to be having the Hot Chocolate Pancakes... Granola separate. A cheese and mushroom omelette on the side, Pumpkin Pancake with Chestnut Raisin Butter... And black coffee."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Green shirts," Mamoru agrees with Amy solemnly, missing the 'with animals on' part. Neph gets a lopsided smile. "Good good. And there probably isn't, we burned quite a few bridges. Worth it though. I also got to meet Kazuo's mom because Thetis flooded my room, so I'm counting losing most of my stuff as a net gain."

He examines the menu and decides, "Winter strawberry and chocolate pancakes with strawberry sauce. And extra chocolate. Perfect breakfast." He also decides to leave Amy to her fate of being mistaken for Sunbreaker simply because it's funny. "And coffee, yeah. Can we get a whole coffee pot?" he asks-- he asks the waiter, actually! Because the waiter is here, taking orders.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"The whole coffee pot seems wise." Naru agrees with Mamoru and a smile up at the waiter.

Naru is apparently bucking the trend and not getting something wiht chocolate. She's got fresh fruit and pancakes as her order.

Naru quirks her head at Masato. "At least you can reach the top of your closet without needing a ladder." She grins. "More storage space there for all of you tall people. We need to climb to get up there, or call someone to be tall for us." She glances to Mamoru and gestures. He, apparently, is often their Tall Person.

"Go with the Happy Pancake, Amy." Naru advises with a nod. "It's a classic." She laughs softly at the puella being called Sunbreaker and shakes her head a little. "I don't think Amy is Sunbreaker, no. Although hey.. I've never met Sunbreaker's alternate ego."

Pyrite has posed:
    "Hm!" is her response to Naru's reassurance, backing up Amy's claim she is not Sunbreaker. "Yes. I understand completely!"
    Narrator: She did not understand at all.
    When it's her turn to order, she says, "Happy pancakes, Winter strawberry and chocolate pancake with flamboise sauce, thick cheese mousse pancake with berry sauce, season fresh fruit pancakes, tea milk pancake with homemade granola, banana whipped pancake with shocolate sauce, hot chocolate pancake with granola, tiramisu pancake, pokura butter pancake, roasted tea tiramisu pancake, rose and strawberry pancake, red dream apple and Greek yogut sauce apple pancake, thrre citrus yogurt pancakes, Japanese chestnut montblanc whip pancake, happy cherry pancakes, green tea ice and citrus pancake lemon..." She squints at the word. "Hm. Skip that one. White peach rosehip peach pancake, pumpkin pancake with chestnut-raisin butter, Wakuri's caramel macchiato pancake, and Happy Christmas pancakes!"
    Then, she looks over at her brother. "Nii-chan, can you please pay for breakfast? Please?" She goes full big shiny kitten eyes.

Amanda Faust has posed:
> Green shirt.
    "With animals on them!" Amy adds, smiling. "Wait, your room was flooded?"

    Bits of the conversation stick in Amy's mind. Inebriation? Amy furrows her brow a bit at Masato. Wait, how old is he? The mansion. Off-shores accounts. "Did... you used to... be something else?" She imagines a rich old man turned into a student. Or a rich old woman, it could be. Anything is possible when magic is real!

    Suddenly the waiter is there, though! "Uhh..." She was planning to just order a regular pancake of happyness, but hearing Mamoru's and Masato's orders, she glances back down at the menu. That all sounds delicious! Uhh... She considers for a moment, "...I think I'll try the winter strawberry pancakes too. Umm. Can I get orange juice on the side? I mean as my drink. And maybe some sugars and creams with the coffee. That comes with syrup, right? The pancakes I mean. Oh and butter?"

    Amy looks back at Mamoru and Masato, who gave such lengthy orders, "Can you really eat all th--nevermind." I don't know if I could've eaten all that as a man, but I wasn't built like that.

    ...And then Himeko orders everything and she just stares. Although who knows how Himeko and Galatea even eat...

Nephrite has posed:
    "I used to be someone who lived in a mansion. But I moved out." he answers Amy, remaining as vague as possible in the middle of a restaurant with people crowding inside.
    Masato carefully avoids saying or doing anything to indicate he is financially capable of buying breakfast, fully aware he just mentioned off-shore bank accounts and a mansion. He hides his face with his menu and fails to slouch down in his seat to make himself less noticeable. "Yes, well. That happens." he mutters non-commitally to Naru about the closet issue.

    He is fine being tall for someone, especially Naru, but feeding Mamoru's pet sister is definitely not going to become Nephrite's responsibility.

    Sorry, Endy. You bought it, you feed it.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I," Mamoru tells Himeko cheerfully, "will buy you one breakfast dish. Not all of those. You have to pick one." He waves a hand at Amy. "I only ordered one breakfast! With coffee! I don't know what you're talking about 'all that'."