4659/Plans for Petals

Plans for Petals
Date of Scene:	11 October 2016
Location:	Tomoeda-865
Synopsis:	Syaoran finally returns to Tomoeda!
Cast of Characters:	1058, Tomoyo Daidouji, 165

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Li Syaoran (1058) has posed:
Li Syaoran took a slow, deep breath as his car pulled up to the house. Well, not his car, his family's car. He glanced to the driver before sliding out. "I'll be by later," he said firmly. "I'll find my own way home."

"Master Li, are you certain?"

"Of course. Thank you." As the car drove away, he looked to the large mansion and gave a little sigh. He could hardly believe that THIS was the house Sakura's best friend lived in. He couldn't help feeling a tad annoyed. Maybe if it wasn't for this, Sakura could have been a little more impressed by his families wealth.

No, she wouldn't have. That wasn't the kind of girl he was. If she was, she wouldn't have captured his heart so securely. He felt a little tinge of red in his cheeks. He then looked up. He was tempted to just jump the fence. A part of him told him he shouldn't have to wait. But ughhhhh. This was for Sakura. He'd be good.

He reached out and rang the door bell. "Hello? I'm here to see Daidouji-chan," he'd say matter of factly.

Oh dear. A strange boy arriving at late evening? For the young maiden of the house? Truly this wouldn't be at ALL suspicious.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Now that's a voice that hasn't come over the intercom in a while.

    The gates open almost instantly for Syaoran to enter the estate grounds. Then it's just through the gardens to the front door, which are flung open almost violently once Syaoran gets close. And there stands Tomoyo, with an expression of pleasant surprise.

    "Li-san!" she exclaims, ushering him inside as quick as she can. "How wonderful to see you~ When did you get back?" she asks as maids swirl about, taking his coat and shoes for him before depositing him in a living room to sit on a couch across from Tomoyo with a teacup before him. The whole thing takes about 15 seconds, a display that almost seems magical.

    Tomoyo stares intently at the Chinese boy, with a smile that borders on predatory. "So, what brings you here today~?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
It's evening in Tomoeda! We sure have entered autumn. It's colder every evening and the dark comes up at like seven or even half six. It's the month of halloween, which some people call october, but which Ren Tanaka calls October.

    And rather than being hiding under a bridge in Alberichstadt, today he's in Tomoeda! Not super near Tomoyo's house but near enough that when he sees a mysterious car pulling up there at dusk he's gonna sneak behind and follow it.

    Then again if this was bad it would be someone wrapped entirely in a cloak, or bandages, clutching a mysterious chest or something.

    Thankfully it's none of those things, and so he's suddenly here too. With an Aldi bag.

    "Hey guys, they had two-for-one on Snickers."

Li Syaoran (1058) has posed:
Li Syaoran froze up. Oh, this wasn't a normal freezing. If this was Sakura, he'd have been frozen with love and shyness.

Oh, but this wasn't Sakura. This was Tomoyo. He looked into those eyes and realized he'd stepped into the belly of the beast. The maw of the tiger. fallen into the bear pit with steaks wrapped around his neck. And what were those steaks? "I arrived about... 10 hours ago. Security delayed me." He took a slow, deep breath and then offered up the steaks. "I need your help. I want to greet Sakura-chan in a way she'll never forget, considering how long I've been gone."

Did I say steaks to bears? Sorry, steaks to STARVING bears. That had lazer eyes! And then there was a second guy. He blinked and looked back. "Err... your... boyfriend?" he asked, motioning to the guy. Well, that meant he was at least in slightly less danger.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Tomoyo blinks in surprise. "Wait... so you haven't visited Sakura-chan yet?" she asks, clearly surprised. But then he brings up why, and she can't help but giggle. "Oh, Li-san... she doesn't need some grand romatic gesture. She'll be happy just to see you~" Yeah, she says that...

    "But then again, something lovely and unforgettable is a wonderful idea~ A lovely dinner, then some kind of show and event, a romantic walk under the moonlight..." Yeah, she hasn't changed at all in the years that have passed. She even has her hand on her cheek and the dreamy look in her eyes the way she used to.

    But then Ren arrives, and Li asks something that makes Tomoyo laugh. "Oh, not at all. This is Ren, a strange fellow who likes to break in my house sometimes. Hello Ren~"

Li Syaoran (1058) has posed:
Li Syaoran blinked and coughed. "I ummmm... I was more thinking. I uhhh... I wrote a speech. It's here and--" He pulled it out. It was on about ten note cards. It was also... soggy. He then stared at it, his eyes wide. Before looking into his now ink-covered internal sleeve. "When the--" he then gave a sigh. "It must have happened when the attendant tripped and spilled the pitchers over me..." He tossed them to the ground, before about to speak.

Then turned to glare at Ren. "This is a private conversation then. How about you break in somewhere else?" Ohhhh, instant hostility. Totally has nothing to do with the fact he's talking about the love of his life. Nope. Nothing at alllll.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"Yes, it's a pleasure!" Ren replies to Lee, giving Tomoyo a smile as he walks up to then both and give Lee a vigorous handshake. "Tomoyo, Germany is just getting into the holiday spirit by now! You know, christmas begins in October, and all that."

    He looks at the note cards, peering over Li's shoulder, possibly holding a card by the corner. "...well, the spirit of the thing is there, if I'm reading some of these cards right. Or you could be saying something about the blood feud that began when a few octopuses trampled your flowerbed, which is less charming. I mean-"

    Li snaps at him. Ren gives that innocent but slightly bemused 'what, me?' gesture where your opening and closing your eyes sounds like a 'plink' on a xylphone.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Tomoyo looks genuinely upset when Li produces the soggy cards. She would ave loved to read what the tactiturn boy had written. "It'll be okay~ I think Sakura would have interrupted you in a speech that long anyway. As long as it comes from your heart, she'll understand. I'll help you if you want."

    Oh my, conflict. Tomoyo looks at Ren's blase response and speaks in a gentle, yet chiding tone. "Ren please. This is love, don't treat it so casually." She shoots Li an apologetic look. She was smiling, but this relationship is clearly not a joke to her.

Li Syaoran (1058) has posed:
Li Syaoran glowered at the man. "How about you leave? I have important matters to discuss." He then turned towards Tomoyo before taking a step forward. "I... know." He clenched his fists. "I've been gone for a long, long time. But all of my duties are complete and my training is finished. I'm ready now. And I want..." he took a long, slow breath. "Sakura deserves the sun and the moon," totally not a reference to Clow Reed or anything. "All the stars in the sky. I've been gone for so long and..."

Another deep breath. It was obvious this was difficult for the boy. Were it for anyone but Sakura, he would have just went 'bah' and called her on the phone.

But this wasn't anyone. This was Sakura. "I want to show her that I'll never leave her side again. That I will always be here for her now. I want to do more than say it. I want to show her how much she means to me. And to do it..." He gave a defeated sigh. "You're the only one I know I can depend on for this." And so it was worth the risk.

Seriously. Lazer bears.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Ren pauses.

    There's a moment where his eidetic memory shoves the relevant piece of information he needs forward faster than he would ever care for it to, and his expression goes from 50 to 0 in 1.63 seconds. In fact, he looks like he's seen a ghost (they're not uncommon around here). Ren quietly arranges the cards in a pile, which proceed to stick together anyway. He then walks quietly over to a chair, and sits in it backwards, scratching his neck and rumbling a little.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Well, there's that callous attitude Syaoran was initially known for. Tomoyo supposed it never went away, he just got to know everyone and let them in more. But to be fair, Ren kind of brought this on himself, so she lets him brood quietly while she sorts this out.

    "That's very sweet of you Li-san~" she says. "I know she'll be so happy to hear i-" And then he says the magic words. Not any incantations, just the statement that Tomoyo would know best on this matter, an acknowledgement of her status as the world's foremost Sakuraologist.

    She stands up, walks around the table... and soon has both of Syaoran's hands in her own. "You'll make her fall for you all over again, I swear it!" The lazer bears would be an improvement at this point.

Li Syaoran (1058) has posed:
Li Syaoran urked, starring into those eyes. He'd stared into the eyes of wolves, bears, a tarrasque. And yet, this was easily the scariest thing he'd ever seen.

But it was for Sakura. Well, technically the bears and wolves had been too. But this was to make her HAPPY. Not so he could just see her. He could endure it for a day or two. Slowly, weakly, he nodded. "Of course. Let's... get this over with." Oh, such passion. Such motivation. Then... "You really think she'll like it?" And there it was. That little hint of red in his cheeks. They ways his eyes started to move slightly to the side. That little bit of doubt that the over confident lad rarely showed anyone.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Hrm. Ren thinks.

    This is unexpected, but then again you've always got to expect the unexpected. Li- Li Syaoran, as Ren remembers him- is back, he's been gone for ... a lot of years but he's back, he seems to either be a jerk or just quite hostile to people butting into important conversations and he's Sakura and Tomoyo's friend so more than likely the latter! Maybe in a few minutes they can apologize to one another for getting off on the wrong foot. Or, perhaps in three days they'll coincidentally show up in the same place and go on a wacky adventure that'll fix everything.

In the meantime Ren eats a Snickers just in case. You're not yourself when you're hungry.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Tomoyo offers a wide grin as she pulls Syaoran from his chair, showing a surprising amount of strength in doing so. She HAS changed in some ways it seems. "I know she will! But first thing's first... we need to get you measured for a nice suit~ I think you'll be very impressed about how far I've come as a tailor!"

    And now she's trying to pull the boy into her bedroom, that same look in her eyes as when she got Sakura in one of the costumes she made for her. Oh yes, the lazer bears would be child's play now.

Li Syaoran (1058) has posed:
Li Syaoran cringed, then yelped. He chewed his lip as he was dragged away. But finally, he steeled himself. For Sakura, he would endure anything. And then he did the worst possible thing. He egged her on. "I hope so. It needs to be something truly worthy of Sakura-chan. Something that will take her breath away."

Oh by the stars he was doomed. Ren would probably here a shriek from Li momentarily.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Ren Tanaka makes a thoughtful noise. Yep, he's definitely doomed. Oh, well, this will surely be a good thing for all of them, he expects. It's been a rough year for all of them. In fact, just a year ago this week it was the... and then we were freeing that... and a couple weeks later we found... and fought with... yeah, wow, October and November of AU23were a big year.

    And they've gone through some really bad stuff this year.

    Yes, hopefully this will be the start of an upswing and some good things happening for these poor teenagers.


    Ren takes another bite out of his snickers.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    "Now you see Li-san, when it comes to Sakura, sometimes simple is best~ If you're describing how lovely she looks, just stick to words like 'cute' and 'pretty.' I understand the idea that only bigger words can contain your feelings for her, but... well, some of them might just go over her head. If you're going to bring flowers, you can't go wrong with sakura blossoms. But if you want something a little less obvious, consider nadeshiko flowers instead! In chosing where to eat, the food shouldn't be too exotic, just well-made. Sakura is a girl of pretty simple tastes after all~ Don't try and dazzle her with expensive things either, she might worry that you're spending too much..."

    As Syaoran gets a crash course on Sakura's tastes, Tomoyo measures im thoroughly. Thankfully, she doesn't ask him to strip down for it.

Li Syaoran (1058) has posed:
Li Syaoran nodded and, if a pen was offered, started taking notes. Well, she was the forefront of Sakura knowledge! As much as he liked her, he really knew little about her likes and dislikes.

Granted, that could be because he'd never actually seen her dislike anything. He was pretty sure she could be given a bouqutte of roses that she was alergic too. And she'd sniff them and love them, even put them in her room, as she was breaking out in hives.

That's why it was the most important thing in the world that he did this right. That was why he could endure anything, even the coldness of Tomoyo's hands and ruler if need be. Though, ummm, he wouldn't strip further than his boxers if need be. He was a tad too shy for that.

"Call her cute and pretty. Not radiant, beautiful, more dazzling than the sun," he muttered. "You sure? My sisters said I should do a lot of flowery things. They even suggested I read Shakespeare and copy some things from that." Oh gosh he went to his sister's for help. That couldn't have been fun. Funny, though.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Ren Tanaka's probably sat on that chair, casually eavesdropping. When you come out he'll probably have, I dunno, made coffee for you both. Or dinner.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    "No offense meant to your sisters, but they've only met Sakura once. I've known her for years now~ Whose word should you trust more?" Tomoyo asks as she gets a measure of Syaoran's foot size, jotting it down next to a list of his dimensions. "So, Li-san, what have you been up to all these years exactly? You said you had handled everything you had to... what made it take this long?"

Li Syaoran (1058) has posed:
Li Syaoran sighed and lifted his foot when needed. "Hmmm? Oh... just things. There's a lot of rituals and traditions I need to follow as heir. If I wanted to become... well... the official heir to the Li clan. On top of that, there were financial things I had to take care of, I had to finish my training as well, both in magic and martial arts. That, unfortunately, took a lot longer than I'd have liked."

He was still for a moment. "Then there's these portals. My family has taken a bit of interest in them and, a few times, I've had to go through them. There's so many incredible worlds out there, it's truly a sight." His voice got a little distant. "It... made me realize just how hard I'll need to work, if I want to stay by Sakura's side from now on." Not even Sakura-chan. Just Sakura that time. He then shook his head.

"Simple and well made? What if I made her dinner myself?" Ohhh, right! he was a pretty good cook. "And... not... everything I thought of was from them and Meiling-chan. There is one thing I got for her, but it's pretty stupid now that I think about it."

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Tomoyo nods along with all the vague statements of 'training' and 'finances.' To be expected of the heir of a lineage of great magic. But that last thing... "Oh, so you've been travelling? Goodness, it's wonderful out there isn't it?" She's getting that distant look again, but brings herself back to reality and finishes up her measurements.

    "Oh, that's a wonderful idea~!" she exclaims, nodding to Syaoran. "She would absolutely love to eat the food you made~"

Li Syaoran (1058) has posed:
Li Syaoran nodded, enduring the measuring. Finally, once she's done he takes a seat. "Wonderful? Some of it. But most of what I saw wasn't the nicest." He crossed his arms. "I had to make sure that I was prepared to be by sakura-chan again. After my failure with the cards, I knew I had to retrain myself, become the greatest I could if I was going to stand besides Sakura-chan." His cheeks turned a little red.

"Really? You sure? I uhhhh... I guess... dinner at my place, then." His cheeks went red. "T-that's not too forward, is it? I know a girl like Sakura-chan, well, she..." And he started getting all flustered. "Maybe I should come to her place? Wait, no, that might even be worse." Only Sakura could do this time him.

"I think I'd rather fight some ancient demon again. It's far easier." He took a slow, deep breath. "So something simple, home made and... special. For her. She still likes sweets, right? Maybe I should make something sweet." He was going to end up making her sweet and sour pork or something in the end.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Tomoyo nods distantly as she examines Syaoran, already busy planning out what she might make for him. His comment about going to her place draws a giggle from her though. "I think it might be a bit forward to try and take over her kitchen~"

    She nods along with his listing of her recommendations. "She does, yes. Maybe something with strawberries? Like that trip to the stawberry farm we took~" And so she continues giving advice. It really is dizzying how much she has to give.

Li Syaoran (1058) has posed:
Li Syaoran took it all in. Fortunately, he'd always been good at studying. And it helped that Sakura was his favorite subject. He rubbed his chin as he thought. "How about a... banana pudding, served with sweet and sour duck, pan seared mixed vegetables and, for desert, a strawberry cream pie?" He finally asked, glancing over to her. "Is that a bit too much?"

He was hanging on every word. Then... "That... other fellow. Who was here. He doesn't... hang around Sakura-chan as well, does he?" Aaaand there was the jealousy.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    "I think she would enjoy it if it was the best thing you could think for her~" Tomoyo says softly. But that last thing draws a smile. "He's just an ally, and far too old for Sakura anyway~" And here, she stands and puts a hand on Syaoran's shoulder. "Sakura's heart has not wavered in the slightest in the time you two have been apart. You don't need to worry, okay? She'll be overjoyed to see you~"

Li Syaoran (1058) has posed:
Li Syaoran blinked and then her cheeks turned scarlet. "I-I know that! She'd never... waver at all!" he snapped. Awww, she abated all his worries. "I'm not worried about her. I'm worried about him," he grumbled darkly. "Breaking into your house. Coming over at dark hours. I don't like him at all." Of course he doesn't. He's Li. Either way, though. "For a gift... ummm..." and then more Sakura talking, into the wee hours of the night.