4044/Ashes to Ashes

Ashes to Ashes
Date of Scene:	24 April 2016
Location:	Tomoeda-865
Synopsis:	Tomoyo's Boutique burned down. People come along to see how the owner is coping.
Cast of Characters:	172, Tomoyo Daidouji, 707, 807, 830, Silica

---

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    The investigation of Tomoyo's Boutique had concluded. The girl was finally allowed to visit.

    The remains of the store stick out like a sore thumb on the street of the Shopping District. The place is still standing for the most part, but utterly charred. The smell of burning lingers in the air still, the stink of soot and smoke. Passers-by give the ruins a wide berth, staring with wide eyes and muttering to each other. Such blatant tragedy was rare in Tomoeda, after all.

    The police tape that still stretches around the property helps encourage this. However, one length of it has been cut to permit access. But even then, the four women in suits and sunglasses that stand at firm attention before the shattered windows and doorless frame help to discourage anyone from milling about.

    They also serve as a very clear indicator that Tomoyo is currently 'in.'

    For indeed she is. Behind the scorched counter she stands, her chair having been ruined by the flames. The place is mostly empty space now, the remains of the shelves having been cleared by investigators in case they were concealing evidence. On the counter next to Tomoyo is a big box of materials they were able to recover. Mostly heat-resistant things, now so grimy with soot that she would never be able to sell them. Behind her, the collapsed stairs that led upstairs, now inaccessible, and probably unsafe.

    Before the tailor is a binder that lays open. Every now and again, she listlessly turns the page. Normally, she would have something to hold her hair back so her face is visible. But today, she's apparently not bothered to do so.

Silica has posed:
    In a city that's home to a certain Magician who has a penchant for flying around on her Wand(broomstick), another flying form might not be so strange... apart, perhaps, from the fact this is a catgirl with glowing yellow wings and a cat-sized dragon following along after her.

    Silica flies along the street, over the height of most vehicles and approaches the shop's location, her face dropping as she sees that it indeed was not some prank. She wings over, approaches the sidewalk and swings her legs down, landing with the firm clipclop of leather boots on concrete. The wings disappear and the dragon lands on her shoulder, nuzzling the Cait Sith's cheek as she approaches the guards.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"If somebody went to the trouble of plotting arson," Xiaomu comments, "you must have made a bigger splash in the fashion world than you thought ..." The sage fox is still outside at the moment, looking in turn at each member of the WIB squad on duty. Only afterwards does she proceed into what's left of the shop, wrinkling her nose at the lingering smell of burnt wood and fabric, scorched glass, and other such olfactory evidence of the fire.

"Nobody got hurt, though, right?" asks the sage fox, as sympathetically as she can. "You and your assistant were both gone for the night or whatever when somebody lit things up ... have the local mundane cops got anything to go on as to who might've done it?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    For once, Sakura isn't making a big, showy entrance by flying in and showing off her wings for all to see. No, today, she - dressed in a t-shirt and jeans rather than any of her more fancy or girly outfits - just walks down the street, two plastic carrier bags held in her hands. She walks right into Tomoyo's Boutique as if she belongs there - and, honestly, she's probably spent more time in there than her brother has at this point. Despite her brother WORKING THERE.

    She sets the plastic bags on the counter without a word... then leans over the counter and hugs Tomoyo.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    News travels fast in Gensokyo, especially when tengu are the one delivering it. Though, when the news of Tomoyo's Botique catching fire is put into the paper, it doesn't take Alice long to be out of Gensokyo and into Tomoeda, with Hourai and Shanghai following her. Tomoyo's high on her 'real people Alice cares for' list and anything that happens is on a priority list.

    Zooming along Tomoeda's sky, the familiar sight of the dollmaker and her doll companions speeding along the air, only dropping down to land once the ruined building is in sight. The bodyguards get an apologetic look and a bow before mmaking her way inside, frowning at the ruined building...

    Alice doesn't say anything when she comes in, however Shanghai immediately zooms over to the side Sakura isn't hugging and proceeds to hug the tailor. Hourai floats around and frowns as well, her voice still silent. She's here and Xiaomu's asking questions, so no need to exacerbate the situation.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Since their charge is currently not in the happiest state, one can't really blame the four bodyguards for being a little... stringent on who they'll allow in. Relative strangers like Silica and Xiaomu? They are initially greeted by the guards bunching up before the door. The shades hide their eyes, but it's implied that they're glaring.

    Thankfully though, Tomoyo calls out, "Let them in," in a weak voice. Their ears are keen to her voice, and they part to permit the two access inside the ruined shop. As for Sakura and Alice though? They receive nods, and are allowed in immediately. The guards know them well enough.

    In response to Xiaomu's all-business queries, Tomoyo only says, "No one was hurt, no. But they don't have any leads." But then, a hug! Tomoyo's arm comes up to wrap around Sakura's shoulders, squeezing tightly. Her other hand comes up to pet Shanghai gently, before she kind of pushes both away.

    Finally, she looks up at the assembled. She's not crying, but her eyes look a little red and it doesn't look like she's been sleeping properly. "Thank you all for coming. It means a lot..."

Silica has posed:
    Silica is taken aback when the guards bunch up and glare. She can /feel/ it, despite her currently being in a VR Avatar. She's about to turn away and leave when Tomoyo calls out, and instead steels herself to enter the burnt out shop. Her nose wrinkles up as she smells the afterscent of the fire. "Even I can smell that, and VR gets so many things wrong with smell..." she says, before approaching the others. "There's no leads at all?" she asks surprised. "Then... I guess all we can do it help rebuild and keep our ears open!"

    Her ears flick in response, unconsciously, and her tail lashes back and forth in agitation. Pina, for it's part, hops off Silica's shoulder, flutters around the various gathered, then lands near Tomoyo. It doesn't bump her hand, but sits nearby, offering some small comfort. The AI in that thing must be pretty intricate!

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"No leads at all?" Xiaomu's nose wrinkles a bit at that. "Would've dragged Reiji out here if I could, see if we could help turn anything up ... Tomoeda may technically be outside Shinra's jurisdiction, but if there's anything we can do to help find the perp, you give me a call and I'll come running - with Reiji if I can get him, but either way. And in the meantime, I figured some fresh business would help pay for the repairs - even if insurance is going to help cover it, no reason to let this keep you down. Right?"

And with that, Xiaomu pulls her phone out of a pocket of her vest, flicking her thumb across the screen. Looking over her shoulder would reveal that she's pulled up the 'photo album' app and is searching through images ...

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura flinches a bit when Tomoyo pushes her away, but doesn't do anything to stop her. She looks around at all the people entering! Wow, Tomoyo sure has a lot of friends... although, of course she does. She's the nicest person Sakura has ever met.

    She reaches into the plastic bags and brings out... an electric camping stove and a little tea kettle. A flick of her wrist produces her Wand and one of her Cards - she raises her hand, causing water to spiral up out of the card and into the tea kettle, which Sakura promptly puts on to boil.

    She's becoming far more casual with her use of magic...

    She glances at Xiamu. "...I have the, um, authority to deputise you. If you want."

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Shanghai gets a pat and she smiles, then she's pushed away.. Well, she's not going to suffer that so she just sits right there on the counter near Tomoyo... and reaches to pet Pina. Hourai moves a bit closer and speaks, "We're glad that you aren't injured physically, and everyone here is willing to help find out who did it." a look around and Hourai takes a look at the stairs... "Tomoyo, may I go up there?" comes Hourai once more, "Maybe I can see if anything is up there."

    Alice looks a bit in thought here, taking a look between Silica, a person she's never seen before, Xiaomu... which she saw not too long ago in Gensokyo and Sakura, another person she's never seen... and then Sakura's magic. Alice taps her foot a bit, a bit impatient that nothing's coming into her head to find out who or what did this. Her eyes glow red slightly, trying to sense anything else around, taking in Sakura's magic signature... and those around...

    Shanghai looks between everyone, then turns to Sakura, "Umm, Miss Magic Girl, we would like to help too. Hourai, Alice and me, that is... Tomoyo means a lot for Alice too... so she wants to help."

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    "They can tell that the fire was started externally, and no accelerants were used," Tomoyo explains in a way that sounds like she has the report memorized. Gently, she reaches out to stroke Pina with a finger while she continues. "Based on the scorch patterns, it began at the door and spread from there."

    She looks up at Silica and Xiaomu as they talk of rebuilding, of starting again. A weak laugh escapes her lips. "Hmm... maybe. If I decide to rebuild." She doesn't explain, too focussed on Sakura's casual magic. It actually manages to lift the corners of her mouth a little. But all this talk of 'deputizing...' "Don't you have something more important to do?" she asks, a little more directly than before.

    A quick glance at Hourai. "If you like. Don't stand on the floor though, it's weak." She notes that it's only the dolls talking, that Alice is remaining silent. "Honestly... you all probably have bigger things to attend to. In the grand scheme of things, this is a minor issue. Please, don't trouble yourselves."

Silica has posed:
    Silica steps forward, and leans over a bit, peering at Tomoyo curiously. "You went out of your way to make me something, all my homework is done and I completed my daily quests before coming here. I have literally nothing else to do with my time than come and help you, Miss Tomoyo." she says, then beams brightly. "I can't speak for myself, I only met you a short while ago, but, I'd like to say we're friends... and this is what friends do!"

    Pina chirps softly and leans into the pettings from both Shanghai and Tomoyo, licking the latters finger with a dopy looking expression on its face. Silica watches, and giggles despite herself. "Sometimes I wonder what kind of programming went into the Feathered Little Dragon template."

Mamimi Samejima (830) has posed:
A few nights ago, there was a bright light.

A light that warmed her and put her in a better mood - among the night sky, it was the brightest. brighter than the stars. Even as the red and blue lights flashed across the sky to oppose it, it drowned out the other lights. Even as the sirens rang through the air, the crackle of the blaze was imagined.

With everyone gathering, her attention peaked. It was likely Tomo-chan was there too! Though there might be guards about, a quick click from a camera is easily heard, Mamimi standing on the side-lines with all the others, taking pictures of different angles - and trying to get Tomoyo and her friends in them as well. Even with the guards, the disheveled girl attempts to make her way past. "Tomo-chan! Tomo-chan are you alright? Heeeeey Tomo-chan!"

Unlike the others, she's quite loud. "Tomooooooo-chan!"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu's thumb pauses in mid-swipe. No accelerants?

"So somebody managed to burn your shop down without doing substantial damage to your neighbors on either side, just by lighting a match or something outside the building?" she asks skeptically. Sakura's offer of deputizing gets a wry smile, and the sage fox reaches out to try and ruffle Sakura's hair. If Sakura doesn't let her, no worries - and if she does, Xiaomu'll smooth the ruffled hair out again before continuing to skim through her phone's photo album. "As far as 'bigger things,' if something pops up in my home Tokyo that Shinra needs to pull me back in on, then that'd snag priority - but if I can't help out a friend whose business I'm a fan of, I'm not worth claiming friendship with. If you *really* can't believe I want to help out just because you're a friend, then file it under 'enlightened self-interest'."

Her ears flick, then angle down against the sides of her head as Mamimi comes screaming in. Doesn't stop her from waving to the newcomer, though. "If I let you deputize me, Sakura, what would the badge say?" she inquires, affecting vague curiosity - although it seems like she's taking the offer seriously behind that.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    "'The greatest happiness is seeing someone you like stay happy'," Sakura says, reaching up to press her knuckles into the top of Tomoyo's head. "Do you remember saying that?"

    She rubs the back of her head, briefly looking towards Shanghai. "Oh! Um. Well. I just offered Xiaomu because... she's a law-enforcement kinda person. Right? So to work out of her jurisdiction she needs someone to say it's okay..." She says this as she pulls a couple of cups out of the plastic bag! "...I didn't bring enough."

    Sakura glances out of the shop in Mamimi's direction. "...Her again? Does she live around here now?"

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    "Maybe it was a magically started fire... but I can't detect any ambient magic other than Sakura's own." finally comes Alice's voice as Hourai darts upstairs. Who needs to stand when you can fly. "It's okay, I'm not thirsty and my dolls don't drink anything." comes the dollmaker once more as she looks between everyone.

    Then that loud voice... Alice /and/ Shanghai sigh and place their hands upon their forehead, just what they needed, someone causing noise around the area.

    The 'her again' comment catches Shanghai's attention, "Do you know that loud voice? The only voice we know that is that loud is Marisa... and that's not Marisa..."

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    To the likes of Tomoyo, something like this... well, anything that comes close in terms of emotional hurt has only happened twice before. The first being when Sakura vanished. The second... much earlier. But both times, the people she could turn to were limited. So now, having so many people offering to assist her? She's not sure how to take it.

    Her first instinct is that they have more important things to concern themselves with, Union business or other such things. A small-scale arson like this, even if it did affect a friend, should be treated as such. Offering sympathy is fine, but their time is precious. They shouldn't be distracting themselves any more than that...

    And then, Sakura lightly raps her on the head and reminds her of her own words.

    Yes, of course... Tomoyo's hands comes up to rub at her eyes, a tiny smile creeping across her face. "Yes, you're right... thank you very much everyone." And then, a loud familiar voice. Again, the guards begin to bunch up, but Tomoyo says, "Let her through." A wan smile is offered to the scruffy girl. "Hello Mamimi."

    Meanwhile, upstairs! Hourai would see that this place is still quite cluttered, the floor being too unsafe to clean it. Melted plastic lumps that were once sewing machines lie all over, as does scorched tools such as scissors and needles. A pile of ashes under a twisted rack indicates outfits that will never be picked up now.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
The problem with ignoring small-scale arsonists is that they eventually level up to large-scale arsonists; it's also something resembling a small miracle that ONLY Tomoyo's boutique got burned, with no evidence of significant damage to her neighbors. Some people might call that downright suspicious.

Xiaomu isn't going to say as much openly until she needs to, though. "So, what kind of resources have you got to work with if you *do* decide to rebuild?" the sage fox wonders. "Are you taking new commissions at this point, or are we going to have to find other ways to help you get a running re-start for your business?"

She pauses to look over her shoulder at Mamimi, the glance turning into a longer and more curious scrutiny, taking her appearance in more thoroughly, before Xiaomu's attention returns to Tomoyo.

Mamimi Samejima (830) has posed:
With a big dumb smile, perhaps the happiest Tomoyo would have seen her, Mamimi grows close within moments through the burned building. "Tomoooo-chan, you've got tons of friends, don't you?" She remarks, looking around as she does. "I brought Takkun with me too, because we wanted to see how you were!" Positively beaming, the girl almost entirely ignores the burned building. Like it wasn't there!

It's not good to dwell on things that aren't important, after all.

Especially as she is currently putting a hand behind Sakura's head to give her rabbit ears. "Are you busy with work today, too?" She asks, potentially incredibly dumbly. "'Cause it's unhealthy if you work all the time. Takkun used to work all the time also, and he was a monster before!" The 'Takkun' is a block with wings, spawned from the Demon Wall that she now hangs around with. It flutters nearby her.

"Oooh, is that a sunroof?!"

Silica has posed:
    A loud voice gets Silica's ears flattening down on 'reflex'. Don't ask her how that even /works/ considering she doesn't have cat ears nor tail in the Real World, but there we go. Tail fuzzes up, and she glances over at Mamimi... "Hey, isn't she the girl from the other day?" she muses to herself more than anything, tapping her chin in thought...

    Pina arches its back and backs away from Mamimi when she comes bounding up being loud. The little dragon then leaps off the ruined counter, and flies back to curl around Silica's shoulders, using the Cait Sith as a buffer between it, and the other girl. "Pina? What's wrong?" asks the Cait Sith. She's never seen her virtual pet act like /that/ before.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Hourai's look is turned to a frown, all that work, gone. Alice would be devastated if something like this would have happened to her. She pokes around here and there but nothing here is catching the doll's eye. Alice sighs, "Hourai hasn't found anything up there that could figure out how this happened..." Alice mutters as Hourai floats back down, and Shanghai looks at the response with Pina and Silica. Something's not right here.

    Alice gives a look towards Mamimi and the laser focus, "You know, you could be a bit more understanding here. Someone lost all their hard work and here you're trying to be silly and distracting." Alice's voice is with stern disapproval at Mamimi's shenanegans, not only that, Alice's eyes glow red to see if anything is around that person... magic wise. Meanwhile, Hourai and Shanghai move right in front of Tomoyo, sitting down on that damaged counter, two pairs of eyes just watching Mamimi....

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura peers at Mamimi as if she's a crazy person - which, to be fair, she IS. "Uh..." She goes a bit slack jawed for a moment, before shaking her head. The water is boiling! In goes the tea, as she takes the water off the heat.

    "...Oh! Tomoyo!" she suddenly starts, realising something. "I just remembered... there's an easy way to find out what happened." A flick of her left hand produces one of her Cards - it's always hard to tell whether that's magic or just sleight of hand. The Card depicts a woman in a robe, holding a clock, with the name 'The Return' printed beneath it.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Looking to Xiaomu, Tomoyo explains, "I have some gear at home, enough to make simple things." Considering that she made all of Sakura's original outfits there, what does she consider 'complex' exactly? "But I probably can't run a business from there, especially not by myself. And my home is quite far, it's not fair to try and get Yamazaki and Touya to come all the way out."

    She places a hand on her cheek and sighs. "And even if I did reopen, what if this happens again? I was prepared for property damage, but not for something so... quiet, I suppose." Once again, the overall lack of challenges in Tomoyo's life shows itself. But, Mamimi's antics draw her out from her ruminations. "No Mamimi, no work today. Probably not for a while," she says, gesturing around at the burnt store.

    To Silica, she nods. "I suppose I never introduced you. Everyone, this is Mamimi. She's a friend." Pina's reaction has her surprised too! Perhaps Mamimi just isn't an animal person.

    Tomoyo looks to Hourai and offers a smile. "It's okay. Thank you for trying Hourai." But... oh no, please don't let this turn into a fight. "It's okay Alice. That's just how Mamimi is." She shows a smile, one that's slightly forced, to reassure the dollmaker.

    But then... oh no. Tomoyo emphatically shakes her head at Sakura. "The Return takes too much out of you! Even if you have become more powerful, it's far too dangerous. Thank you Sakura, but..." She wants to accept help, but she doesn't want to heap too much onto people...

Mamimi Samejima (830) has posed:
They're ...

Backing off. Pulling away. Acting weird.

Mamimi knows how this goes before - and this area seems to be reminding herself of it once more, even if Tomoyo is telling them that's how she is and that Tomoyo will ALSO not be working for a while. "Then you can hang out with me more often. It'll be great.~" The girl exclaims, before eyeing the dolls and Silica's Cait Sith. It's only when Sakura begins to talk about THE RETURN, that Mamimi reaches into her bag, looking for something. That is to say, a lighter and a cigarette. She may very well need one. Of course...

Tomo-chan is too kind.

Hand stuck in her bag, Mamimi agrees. "Mhmm, Tomo-chan knows best... and I am understanding. Bad things happen, but they happen to everyone." Is the declaration, as a single cigarette with 'never Knows Best' written on it is lit, "Sometimes they never stop." Puff. "So Tomo-chan shouldn't focus on them." She smiles, "Especially with people there for her, like me~!"

Silica has posed:
    Silica isn't worldly knowledgable, nor can she Detect Magic, that's a high level magic that she just can't learn. She does watch Mamimi cautiously. Pina's really spooked and that's not something she's used to. Sure the little dragon has warned her of enemies nearby by growling before, but Pina has never gone into full 'ohgodwhatishappeningaaaaa' mode before.

    She shakes it off though... it's probably something to do with being outside of ALO that's messing with Pina's algorithms or something. She makes a gesture with her left hand, 'taps' the air a couple of times, before a small bag of peanuts appears in her waiting palm. She digs one out, and offers it up to placate her companion, which works well enough. Pina munches on the treat, and just curls up on the Cait Sith's shoulder.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu isn't pulling away from Mamimi; after that moment to look her over, Xiaomu just went ahead with stuff like normal. And to be fair, the sage fox DOES deal with things far weirder than her on a regular basis. "You sure she's not from Gensokyo?" is about as far as the needle wobbles on Xiaomu's weird-o-meter at the moment ...

At least until she sees the cigarette being fished out and lit. "Eh, last time I was here, Tomoyo pointed out that her shop's a no-smoking zone," Xiaomu says mildly. "Admittedly, whoever lit the place up seems to have been rather pointedly ignoring that at the time ... anyway."

She gives Tomoyo a slightly dismayed look. "Fair enough, I guess. If you want a low-key commission - something simple that you wouldn't need much help for - then you've ... ah, hang on." She rummages briefly, putting her phone away, then pulls out a business card. "There, now you've got my contact info if you didn't already have it," she finishes, grinning, before turning to face the redhead. "And good to meet you, Mamimi; it'll be even better to meet you if you keep the cigarette downwind. I have a hard enough time with Reiji occasionally lighting up," she notes wryly.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura's phone dings! Sakura promptly fishes out six cups and starts pouring tea. She herself doesn't appear to mind Mamimi lighting up... that much. In fact she doesn't seem to mind Mamimi's presence at all, even if she is being a bit weird.

    "Pfft. Clow wasn't an idiot, y'know. He made Time and Return capable of using outside energy to work if the caster wasn't up to it... Just need to, um. Get someone else to help, I think. Syaoran would be good if he was here but he's way too busy to fly over from Hong Kong..."

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Alice hmms and frowns, that smile wasn't too convincing but she gives a brief nod, looking at Hourai and Alice and they stand down, moving just a bit away from Tomoyo. Alice, however, turns to look at Sakura, "If you need some magical help, I can supply it if you need." she smiles, if she can't really do much to figure out what's going on here, she will offer what she can to help others. Hourai, however, frowns, "I wanted to try to help. If a human can't go up there, then we could." she shrugs.

    Shanghai looks at the cigarette, "You remind me of Mokou, she lights up on occasions too..."

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    'Bad things happen, but they happen to everyone.'

    That's actually quite insightful, especially coming from notable burnout Mamimi Samejima. Of course, it's perfectly normal to get wrapped up in your own problems when they just happened, but Tomoyo is too selfless to think like that for long. And that was just what she needed to hear.

    "Mamimi's right," she says, something no one has probably ever said. "Right now, this is all out of my hands. I'll need to sort out the insurance first, and then demolition and reconstruction... all of these are things I can't personally do. So I should focus on other things for now."

    First thing is Silica and her pet problems. "Is he going to be okay?" she asks with concern. She can tell that Silica is a little worried. "This place is kind of upsetting... maybe we can continue this somewhere else." She manages a wry smile at Xiaomu, and takes the offered card. "I'll think about it~"

    Sakura makes a good point. "So if we had an abundant source of magic for you to use..." Very abundant, she decides. So Sakura doesn't burn herself out. "Maybe~ I'll see if I can find anything suitable. After all, I do have a lot of free time now." She smiles at Alice and nods. "Gensokyo would be a good place to look. Any help you can offer would be very appreciated."

    The more empathetic people could tell that Tomoyo isn't entirely 'better' yet. Some of this is forced. But she's clearly on the mend already.

Silica has posed:
    "She'll be fine." replies Silica, smiling brightly back at Tomoyo. "I think it's just being outside of ALO's servers... it makes some things... different." she tries to explain. "I guess the others never figured out that pets can get affected too, since none of them use the Beast Taming skill." A shrug, and a little finger pet along Pina's head gets a contented little chirp out of the dragonling.

    Now, Cait Sith have Empathy, which is why they can tame monsters... but even Silica doesn't need that particular skill path to see that Tomoyo's still hurting underneath. She doesn't voice it, but moves a bit closer, gravitating towards someone she considers a friend. "I'm not sure if ALO magic will help, but, I could give it a try?" she offers up, trying to add something to the conversation at least.

Mamimi Samejima (830) has posed:
The fact that there is a way to actually look into the past...?

That's why Mamimi needs a cigarette. "Neh?" Mamimi speaks up when she's told to 'stop' and 'put out the cigarette'. Mamimi clearly /does not/, "Well, we're outside right now, even inside." The girl plainly states, before moving a bit closer than she has any right to, to Tomo-chan. That's about when Mamimi does things she more than usually does not do.

This, however, isn't leaning forwards against Tomoyo, arms wrapping around her and keeping the cigarette, however to the side and away from her, in her mouth as she hugs Tomoyo. Cheek rubbing and everything. "Tomo-chaaaaan, I'll make you feel good, okay? If you let things bottle up it'll go POP! It's really bad for you..." She giggles, then looks up to Sakura. "Mm... maybe you shouldn't." Wha!? "Y'know, you can burn out with magic, and then you'll turn into smoke and blow away, and then everything Tomo-chan cares about will be ashes."

"So you can't do that to poor Tomo-chan...." Cheekrub.

Earbite.

She pulls away afterwards though, taking another long drag from her cigarette, "Takkun, go meet the dragon thing!" She commands, as the rock with wings flies towards Pica - the absolutely harmless shard of rock that recently began to grow bigger and is part of the Demon wall destroyed so long ago. it also came from someone's head!

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"I can prowl around the area," Xiaomu offers, "see if there are any suitable leylines to tap into. Dunno if I'd be able to help more than that; I may be a sage fox but my personal reserves *do* have limits. I usually get a boost from Reiji when we're doing big, heavy-lifting type magic. And in the meantime, Tomoyo, I don't think I ever took you out to dinner or anything - well, I may not have made the offer, but ... there's some good restaurants around, aren't there? We should all go out to eat or something, because sitting around in a scorched shop like this isn't going to do your mood any favors. Gotta focus on the positive, not the negative, or you'll just get bogged -"

Then she stares at Mamimi. Random hugs aren't always a bad thing, and the cheekrub isn't that farfetched as an addendum, but biting Tomoyo's ear? That's not a thing you do randomly to someone you like, except maybe for very very specific sub-categories of 'liking'.

".... so yeah, maybe there's a pizzeria with an attached arcade or something, or we could just hit up the Bar and Grill where I *know* there's an arcade."

Xiaomu seems awfully fixated on an arcade all of a sudden, doesn't she.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    It's probably a good thing that Tomoyo's bodyguards didn't see this... not such a good thing that Alice is currently watching this happening. And that cig near Tomoyo... in a burned building... no respect at ALL. Shanghai doesn't take too kindly to this and floats up, it doesn't take too long though as her sword materalizes and a laser shoots right out at the cigarette to destroy it.

    Shanghai continues, "You're a disrespectful woman." she frowns, an anger in her voice... "Very disrespectful. Lighting a cigarette in a burned building and getting close to her with it." Hourai hovers nearby and Alice just stands back, turning to Sakura, "We can use my house, it's in the Forest of Magic, so there's a lot of ambient magic you can use. But if you need to be here for it, I can channel it through a spellcard."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    "Shield!" Sakura has... rather fast reflexes nowadays. It helps that she was standing right next to Tomoyo, really, so therefore also right next to Mamimi! A yellow, transluscent shield has been erected around Sakura, Tomoyo and Mamimi, possibly in time to deflect that laser - but even if not, Sakura doesn't drop it.

    She's staring at Shanghai with barely-contained rage. Mamimi's rather inappropriate actions are completely ignored! "You will NOT. Use magic. To attack innocent people. In this town. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Things were going so well until now too.

    Tomoyo doesn't mind the cheekrub, but the biting makes her flinch. And then lasers, but also The Shield! It all happens a little bit fast. And now the air in the burned store is heavy, as well as rank. The bodyguards have come in now too, hands reaching into their jacket pockets.

    "It's okay, everything's okay," Tomoyo says hurriedly, getting between they and everyone else. "We were just leaving. I think Xiaomu had some good suggestions?" She quickly downs the still-hot tea Sakura had prepared, eager to move on from all this.

    "Let's go everyone~"

Mamimi Samejima (830) has posed:
The laser strikes, detonating ... the shield?

Mamimi blinks, looking over to Sakura, Tomoyo and especially Alice. And then her dolls. Particularly her dolls.

That's when she blinks, and puts out the cigarette, dropping it to the floor and putting it out with her foot. "It's okay, it's out now. You're really high strung for something so small... Takkun's better than you though, he doesn't talk as much." Does she... even care? It's not clear she cared about the potential laser blast, the potential badmouthing - she just shrugs and watches as the others focus on an arcade. "I don't have any money, so I'll catch you later, Tomo-chan~." She sing-songs, clearly caring about that.

Moving away from the others!

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    The laser dissipates against the shield and Shanghai takes a frown towards Sakura, "But I wasn't attacking a person..." she sighs, only to glare at Mamimi. "At least I know personal space and how to cheer up someone, you disrespectful woman." a pause, "And that thing is a block with wings, it doesn't have anything TO speak with." Alice sighs, "Shanghai, stop. Let it go." "But Alice..." and Shanghai gets a stern look.

    She turns towards Sakura, "I'm sorry for what my doll did, I will make sure that doesn't happen again. And you're still welcome to come to Gensokyo to use the magic there to help." a pause, a turn towards Xiaomu. "What's an arcade?"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Well, I was going to offer to pay for the food," Xiaomu notes, "but I'm not paying for anyone else's game time." Other than that she doesn't seem overly worried about whether Mamimi stays or goes. Takkun is of *slightly* more concern to her, possibly.

"And an arcade - more properly a video game arcade, or a 'game center' as modern Japanese puts it - is a place where you can play different video games that are set up for the public to enjoy. Fighting games, shoot-em-ups, virtual mahjong - the potential of video games is pretty close to unlimited at this point, even in a world like this one."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura slowly exhales - then, with a flick of her wand, the Shield vanishes. Of course, Mamimi could step right through it before she lowered it! But it's only polite.

    She turns to Alice, and gives a soft sigh. "Don't... worry about it. Thank you for the offer, it'll probably help a ton." She forces a smile. "Okay, sure, an arcade sounds fun."

Silica has posed:
    Everything goes down, and Silica just kinda... stands there. She looks between the others, then nods a bit. "An Arcade sounds fun..." she covers her mouth and giggles, tail aswish behind her. "Playing videogames while diving... how meta is that?"