1212/Lunch and a Show!

Lunch and a Show!
Date of Scene:	29 February 2024
Location:	Cafeteria Plaza
Synopsis:	What started off as a lunch turns into... not sure how to describe it, but it happened, and apparently there was a near disaster that was avoided. Thankfully.
Cast of Characters:	Bow, Takuto Tsunashi, Hitomi Kobe, Mizudori Teion

---

Bow has posed:
Having agreed to meet Hitomi for lunch, Luke had changed back into his school uniform for the pair of them to meet in the cafeteria for a bite to eat. As he arrives, the dusky teenager carrying with him two items of note. One of which is a violin case - he's going to need that for his next class.

The other is a large white, plush alicorn. It has rainbow wings and matching mane, it's horn standing out between two black button like eyes. Looking around for a table to set his items at to get his tray, there's a faint squinting of eyes as he searches for an empty table.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
There aren't any empty tables, but there's a table where there's one person sitting -- a redheaded guy -- and one person leaving, that the redheaded guy is waving to.

Said ginger, Takuto of the spiky hair and all elbows and long limbs, shoves fully half a muffin in his mouth before swinging back into his seat and taking out his phone to tumblr while he chews, probably.

His table is otherwise empty! There are more people at other ones.

Hitomi Kobe has posed:
    Hitomi was already in the cafeteria. She had a cheap bento box in front of her sourced from a convenience store, and she looks to Takuto, and she gives a small 'eeeeh' sound of nervousness before after a brief mental battle, she sits don at the other end of the table from Takuto.

    "I apologize, I just need somewhere to eat my lunch. Please do not mind me." she states haltingly to the redhead, and then battens down and opens up her bento.

Mizudori Teion has posed:
    Mizudori Teion does not attend class very often. But sometimes you just gotta show up because otherwise the cops might start poking around and find your chaos cave, and if going to school once a fortnight is good enough to keep the law off your back, well. Sacrifices must be made. At least it's a chance to promote her latest projects.

    The tall dark-haired girl looks uncomfortable in the school uniform, like it's far from her preferred style of dress, but she's dealing with it admirably. She's also wandering around the cafeteria, handing out flyers. "Hey, I'm playing at the Untidy Squid with Harmful Tree Sloth in a couple days, you should come!" Flyers get tucked into peoples bags while they aren't looking, thrown onto trays, taped to people's backs like 'kick me' signs to turn them into walking billboards.

Bow has posed:
Spying Hitomi as she takes a seat, Luke makes his way over to the table. "Hey Hitomi!" he greets. "Great spot you picked!" But the table is not empty, so as he glances over at Takuto, the young man offers in greetings. "Hello. Do you mind if we join you? I'm Luke, this is Hitomi." He's totally a foreigner.

"Ah, do you mind watching these for me while I get my tray. I'm watching Swiftwind here for a friend." he sets the large plush in a seat. "And I haven't had a chance to take him back to my room yet. I'm going to do that, then hit band class. Anyway, be right back!"

And with that, he's pulling back to head towards the buffet style meals, as he comes up on Mizudori. Accepting a flier from her - because he clearly is not the type to ignore it, he peeks at it and looks confused. "Untidy Squid with Harmful Tree Sloth? That... sounds unique." And he doesn't say it in a bad way, just one that's befuddled as a bunch of words that don't make sense together are thrown at him and supposed to make sense. "But I'll look into it!" he promises her as he moves to load his tray up with food.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"Hey, that's what cafeteria tables are for," Takuto tells Hitomi with startlingly gentle good cheer. Then he nods equally cheerfully at Luke. "Mm! Sure. I'm Takuto Tsunashi, grade 10--" he starts, but then Mizudori's all handing out flyers, and he squints across the space at her. He glances at Hitomi for a second, then holds up a finger.

"Hey! Teion right?" he calls out loud in front of Godoka and everybody, "didn't you literally summon a youma as a publicity stunt? Did I just encourage you to do it again because I remembered you did that?"

Hitomi Kobe has posed:
    Hitomi gives a wave to Luke as he approaches, and regards the alicorn plush with a look of suspicion, and then turns to ask Luke a question before he goes off -- and then she pauses.

    "... eh? Untidy Squid? Youma?" she questions.

    Her pet flying squirrel pokes its tiny head out of her blazer pocket, ears pricked up at the exchange between Mizudori and Takuto.

    ". . . maybe I should sit at a different table."

Mizudori Teion has posed:
    "Unique is my byword, young human." Mizudori tells Luke, grinning her charming draconic grin and giving him a clap on the shoulder as if they are old buddies despite never having seen him before in her entire life. "I promise a show you'll never forget!"

    Which is when Takuto calls out to her, illuminating perhaps why her shows are so difficult to forget. Rather than appearing shamed or denying it though, she just snappoints at him and says, "Yeah, and you remember it so clearly it worked!" She rapidly folds one of her flyers into a paper airplane and sends it sailing at Takuto. "It was an unforgettable experience, like all of my performances! Don't worry though, I never repeat stunts. Creativity is seeking new horizons!"

    The paper plane misses Takuto completely and lands in Hitomi's bento.

Bow has posed:
There's a clap on his shoulder, and Luke was about to say something, when Takuto speaks up. And suddenly it all makes sense. The young Etherian may have arrived on the turnip truck that was on the banana boat just over a week ago, but he does grasp things quickly. And currently, and as it seems that there might be trouble, thankfully it seems Teion just isn't feeling it.

"Perhaps we can avoid all of that? I haven't had lunch yet and I don't want to have a disagreement on an empty stomach." A warm smile shot towards Mizudori. "Maybe I'll check it out." Probably not, but he's polite about it all. "Would you like to join us? I mean, it's easier to break bread than break arms, right? And bread is so much better."

And because he's totally forgotten the whole thing, he offers up for introduction. "I'm Luke Armbruster, grade 10. Just transferred from America."

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"Oh I don't think she'll start anything while she's handing out fly--" starts Takuto, and then airplane in bento and the redhead winces. "Flyers. Well. I mean, if you're worried, you can sit somewhere else? Sorry." A beat; he bites his lip. "Do you want me to get you some replacement lunch?" he asks Hitomi. "Since she was aiming for me. Oh and-- the time with the youma? Nobody got hurt, we were there to stop it."

He glances back over at Luke and Mizudori, considering. "Your friend seems pretty level-headed," he asides to Hitomi.

Hitomi Kobe has posed:
    Hitomi was about to pick up some pickled vegetables when a paper airplane lands in her bento.

    The little face of the dwarf flying squirrel ducks... slowly... down into the pocket of Hitomi's blazer.

    The dark-haired, dark-eyed girl with the spray of freckles, a little bit of pickled cabbage held in her chopsticks gives a pause. She lets the vegetable bits drop back down to the bento.

    She sets her chopsticks to the side.

    She pushes her bento forward and just gives a mutter of:

    "It's just not worth it." to herself, folding her arm and just slowly sliding her head into it in defeat.

Mizudori Teion has posed:
    Trouble!? Mizudori Teion does not cause trouble. She creates art. If some people are disturbed by her art, well. All great artists are misunderstood by their contemporaries.

    Which is why she has to work so hard to get people to come to her shows! Certainly it's that and not because of the high incidence of mischief which occurs at said shows. "That's debatable," She tells Luke in response to it being easier to break bread. "But either way, can't you see I'm busy?" She turns around and slaps a flyer onto the wall, covering up some official-looking announcement about a school fundraiser or something. "I don't have time to eat, I'm networking."

    She glances over to the table and notes Hitomi's reaction. "Don't be so overdramatic!" She calls, ignorant of the hypocrisy. "It's just paper, it's not like your food is ruined! If anything it's improved!"

Bow has posed:
"Well, you are definetly free to do such. And I hope your show is a great success." Luke offers to Teion with a small smile. "Good luck with your networking." he offers to her, trying his best to try to keep the situation from escalating.

Carrying his tray over to the table, he sets it down and smiles at Hitomi. "You're welcome to share mine!" he offers as he pushes his tray to the middle so that the pair of them can share the meal. He reaches over, aiming to pluck out the soggy paper, "Your lunch looked really good, too!"

To Takuto, he offers, "There's just a time for such things and this is not one of those times." he shrugs his shoulders nebulously, trying to hold onto a fragile peace to just have some lunch.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"I wasn't picking a fight, I just wanted to see if she was consistent," Takuto says, picking up a croquette. "And she is. It's literally all just constant marketing. Her music's pretty good though."

The spiky-haired boy snaps his fingers! "Right! She also did some roller derby thing I didn't pay attention to, something about that Silver Crystal whatever that was floating around a few months ago. She's very aggressive about getting her name out. Anyway, all I caught of yours was Luke! But it's nice to meet you!"

He offers a quick bow and then takes a bite of his croquette.

Hitomi Kobe has posed:
    "It's all right." Hitomi states. "It's probably not my kind of music. And this 'youma' business sounds dangerous." Hitomi replies quietly. "I'll just pick something up later, I'm not that hungry. It's OK." she states to Luke, not willing to push the issue as the soggy paper is plucked from cheap pickled vegetables.

    Her stomach gives a loud growl, meanwhile.

Mizudori Teion has posed:
    Mizudori might start a fight if she heard Takuto call her music 'pretty good', but as it is she is far enough away to not overhear that comment. She is too busy trying to see if her flyers will fit into the tray dispenser so people trying to get trays to eat their lunch on will end up with a flyer on top of each tray like a placemat.

    One of the cafeteria staff notices her, and a minor altercation ensues which largely consists of Mizudori running away while making faces at the older lady, who is telling her to 'come back here right now' and 'stop being a nuisance'. She has to leapfrog a sitting student and parkour-slide under a table, but she's soon temporarily out of sight.

Bow has posed:
When Hitomi excuses herself, Luke frowns for a moment, but he doesn't really know what to say -and it may be her not feeling good, so he can only frown as she retreats from the others. He should have gotten her contact info so he could reach out to her later. But he'll figure that out.

Unwrapping a granola bar, he sets it down near the plush as he starts on his own meal, glancing over as he watches Mizudori's antics to try to get her show noticed, and he shakes his head. "She'd probably done better just trying to play some of her music in the cafeteria?" he suggests thoughtfully, patting his own violin case.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"I mean I guess it was dangerous," Takuto says slowly, "but it was kind of... well, I was going to say it was level one, but it did almost knock me over, but I had a cold at the time. So maybe still level one."

And then Hitomi's left, and he watches her leave for a second, also frowning-- then turns to Luke and nods. "Undoubtedly," he says, then finishes off his croquettes. He squints past Luke to see if Mizudori's popping up again somewhere else or if she leaves bumped and unimpressed people in her wake as she goes under the tables, if that's what she's doing. Then Luke's instrument actually registers, and he blinks. "Oh are you in the orchestra?"

Mizudori Teion has posed:
    Mizudori is nowhere to be seen for several long minutes, allowing people to eat in peace. But then, out of nowhere, she's appearing from beneath the table to slide into the chair alongside Takuto, fresh out of flyers and (temporarily) the sight of 'the man'.

    "Orchestras are tyranny." She says, while eating a onigiri she got from somewhere along her path (don't ask where, it was crime). "They tell you how to play and then you have to do it or they get mad. That's not how music is supposed to be." She gives Luke a critical glance with her luminous eyes while she chews.

Bow has posed:
The granola bar that was set next to the plush? It was gone.

As he works on his noodles, and still trying to get a grasp on using chopsticks, but instead resorts to a fork, Luke shakes his head when he's asked about the orchestra. "I played pretty casually back home, I thought maybe if I played a little here, I could meet some people and get more used to things here?" he offers with that boundless optimism that seems to know no end.

And then Mizudori is joining them again, and he lifts his brows in curiousity as she talks about the problem with Orchestras. "I suppose that is a good take to have, especially if you want to show your own skills and originality, but sometimes performing in unison with a group of others can show people exactly how great it is when all different types come together and take something complex and turn it into it's own beauty as it's own original piece."

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"My girlfriend is a singer," Takuto says after a second, then reaches over to pick up his drink and make an obnoxious sound with the straw and the down-to-the-ice last end of the liquid. He doesn't seem bothered by Mizudori sitting next to him.

A beat as he stops and looks at both of them. "Sorry, that's all I've got. But I am here for your conversation."

Then he lowers his voice, leaning across the table to address the 'plush' winged unicorn. "You know most non-human friends pass without notice even when they're moving...? I think you'd be fine. But I get it if you don't want to take the risk!"

Mizudori Teion has posed:
    "Spoken like a true sheep." Mizudori tells Luke, without rancor but with plenty of judgement. "True art can't be contained by things like time signatures and sheet music. It's all a bunch of control mechanisms invented by past tyrants like Mozart and Beethoven who just want to stifle future geniuses to make sure they don't lose their place at the top of the heap. Ha!"

    She eats the last of her pilfered onigiri. "Well, I got news for those old dead mothereffers. Mizudori Teion is here to tear down the patriarchy, the matriarchy, and any other kind of -archy." She pauses. "Except anarchy. I like that one. Anyway, give me that."

    She's reaching for Luke's violin! "I'll show you how you do it right."

Bow has posed:
The alicorn just looks up at Takuto and snorts softly. "He and I are searching for my owner, so I am incognito. But it's okay, he's in the know. If you know what I mean." A wink from an alicorn's eye and he's nibbling on a second granola bar. "Oh sweet marriage of oats and honey, where have you been all my life?"

But Mizudori has Luke's attention at the moment, and he's looking plenty confused. "I know who neither of those people are." He admits quietly, in confusion for a moment. "But I do not usually have sheet music, I play form the heart!" he declares.

And she may be reaching for his violin, but he gives her hand a swat with the back of his fork. "Here. I will show you." And pulling the case over to him, he opens it. Food's forgotten about for a moment. Instead, he pulls the instrument from his case. It looks like a standard violin, and Luke takes out the bow. A few light tugs on the strings to make sure they're tight. And then he starts to play.

It's not a piece either of them are going to be able to place. It's light and airy, full of uptempo and excitement - a truly Etherian piece that is wrapped around his adventures so far.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
Takuto's eyes crinkle up with the size of his grin at Swiftwind, and he gives a big thumbs-up. "That is so valid," he says, still quiet-- and then he laughs at Mizudori. "Oh god, going to touch someone else's violin--?? Can't you--" he starts, and Luke smacks her hand and Takuto wheezes laughing while Luke sets up, and then he quiets down to listen...

...and blinks, and takes out his phone really fast and holds it up to start filming. "Don't worry," he whispers, "this is just for my girlfriend and her fiance, I won't post it."

Mizudori Teion has posed:
    Mizudori looks absolutely flabbergasted as Luke goes so far as to swat her hand with his fork, denying her access to her birthright, which is all musical instruments and indeed the very concept of music itself. She might have protested vociferously if not for the fact that he's pulled the violin out and started playing it before she really gets the chance.

    She falls silent, and looks disgruntled, because although she'd never actually admit it he's good. Not as good as she is, of course, but nobody is. But she'd let him be one of her backup musicians- well, she would have, before he hit her hand with a fork! Now she has no choice but to destroy him.

    "Hmph." She says, in a tiff. "I guess it's alright. For an amateur."

Bow has posed:
Luke is good. And with his eyes closed, and his focus is clearly on the music. It's only a sample of what he has from years of experience on another world - but enough to give a taste of what he's like.

Swiftwind is just bobbing up and down to the music, the cat-sized alicorn just happily moving and snacking while Luke isn't paying attention to him.

Once he's done, Luke twirls the bow in his fingers and offers a slight bow of his head. The violin is placed back in its case, before he turns his attention to Mizudori. "Thank you." he says, a warm smile. Because he is a talented amateur! "I look forward to hearing your music. On your violin."

His attention turns to Takuto and a grin is shot his way. "It's fine! I'm happy for you to share my playing!" he offers brightly, before his attention finally turns back to his lunch.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"Excellent, thank you so much!" says Takuto happily, saving the video, then sending it to Wako and Sugata-- and then he's finished and he starts cleaning up his spot. "Oh, Teion-san, I wanted to tell you, my girlfriend's fiance is absolutely a fan of yours, so if you give me a non-soggy flyer I'll pass it along."

Mizudori Teion has posed:
    Mizudori has the good grace not to interrupt the performance while it's going on. That might be surprising to some, but the fact of the matter is she respects music- if not always the people who are making it.

    Once Luke finishes however, she scowls and says, "You can hear it! Just buy a ticket to my show. It'll totally blow your socks off. If you're not to chicken to come and be shown up." As if this is the worst thing that can possibly happen to a person.

    She's getting up, about to be done with this place, when Takuto asks her for a flyer. She doesn't blink at 'girlfriend's fiance', though it's possible she just doesn't process the implications. "Oh, sure thing."

    She reaches over and pulls one off of some kid's bag where she had stuck it earlier (he never even noticed) before handing it over. "Alright, I'm outta here." And just like that, she is, in fact, outta here.

Bow has posed:
"I think there's plenty of fliers lying about that you can get one..." Luke responds, looking around at all the spots that Mizudori has stuck fliers. Even Swiftwind is chewing on one at the moment, which he apparently had thought was a granola bar at first, so he spits it out.

"Gross." is the alicorn's opinion. "We're not really going to go..."

Luke, on the other hand, is intrigued. And he wants to see what it means to have your socks blown off, because she claims she can do this. "It's a date!" he announces. "I mean, not a date because other people will be there, obviously, but a date in that you asked me to show up and buy a ticket, so I'll take you up on that!" Curiosity, thy name is Bow.

"...make sure you have me back to Adora before you do this." Swiftwind groans.