2689/Shinra Styles

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Shinra Styles
Date of Scene: 28 July 2015
Location: Tomoeda-865
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the Kaibaland incident, Tomoyo stops at her Boutique, only for Xiaomu and Reiji to come visit!
Cast of Characters: Tomoyo Daidouji, Reiji Arisu, 707


Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
     It's been a long and tiring night for poor Tomoyo. After departing from Kaibaland, she makes a beeline towards her Boutique. Having had her radio confiscated means she needs to use the phone there to call her bodyguards.

    The store isn't usually open at this time of night, but the lights are on inside! Tomoyo herself is sitting behind the counter, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her palms to try and shake off the feeling of exhaustion.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Depending on the exact timing, Tomoyo might reach up to rub her eyes while the sidewalk out front is vacant - and then as she's lowering her hands again, she would see Xiaomu reaching for the door handle. There's an experimental tug to see if the door is locked or not; when it opens, the sage fox pulls it far enough open to step inside, holding the door briefly with her staff as she passes through. "Heck of a night, huh?" she grins good-naturedly. "Glad to see you're okay; if you *hadn't* been, I'm not sure who would've been first to kill Kaiba but I'd have been racing for it.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
     Tomoyo flinches as she lowers her hands in time to see Xiaomu just there on the other side of the door! Reflexively, she stands up and bows to the fox sage as she enters, as if she were a customer coming in during opening hours.

     Catching herself, she smiles sheepishly. "Heck of a night..." she agrees, stifling a yawn by placing her hand over her mouth. Giggling softly, she shakes her head. "I don't think I could ever rest in peace if I left people seeking revenge for me..."

    Blinking blearily, a half-formed thought starts to swim up in her mind. Xiaomu is here and she has an outfit that's finished. So... "Oh! Xiaomu, do you want to take your cosplay home with you?" The tiredness on her face fades away at the prospect of having a satisfied customer.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Well, technically that death was already avenged, but Xiaomu chooses not to burden Tomoyo with that knowledge. Besides, a more important topic just came up.

"I'm here, you're here, why not?" grins Xiaomu, walking over to the fitting booths and leaning her staff against the wall next to them. Then she just steps behind the curtain, stray edges of a cloud of gold-hued smoke billowing out briefly.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Tomoyo claps her hands together in delight. "Why not~? Stay here, I'll be right back!" She goes up the stairs behind the counter, the jangle of keys echoing down as she unlocks the door to the second floor. Soon, the sound of her shoes on the stairs gets louder and louder as she comes back, holding a plastic bag on a coat hook.

    Going up to the dressing booth, she peers at the golden smoke and gently raps on the curtain. "No smoking please~" she says, sounding way more proud of that joke than most people would be. She then hands the bagged outfit through!

    Looking at it, it's like the sketch has come off the page! A set of burnt orange robes, like a slightly charred autumn leaf with a spell circle looping around the hems on the sleeves and at the bottom done in white. It comes with a pair of loose, puffy off-white pants that have black cord sewn into the hems of the legs so they can be secured. They would be held up with a brown leather belt made to be tied around the outside of the robes. The blue cloak is done in a dark blue, the color of water just on the border of when light stops reaching the depths, with the same white magic circle going around the hem, A pair of brown leather boots with more belts to secure them add to the fantasy look. The final touch is a silver diadem, embedded with sapphires, citrines and pearls to match the scheme of the rest of the outfit.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Wasn't smoking, just changing," Xiaomu answers as she reaches through the curtain to take the outfit. Tomoyo can hear it being unwrapped, followed by the rustle of cloth as Xiaomu starts putting it on ...

The newly-attired sage fox steps out a moment later, adjusting the diadem. "Feels right," she grins. "Got the colors down perfectly, too - they contrast but they don't clash." She moves to take a look at her new appearance in the mirror ...

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    "Oh! Sorry~" Tomoyo giggles softly and goes behind the counter to nab a camera. Another thing that she lost at Kaibaland. Shame, all that video evidence could have come in useful... nah. Kaiba would no doubt have covered himself in the legal department.

     When Xiaomu throws open the curtain, Tomoyo applauds at the look! "You look great~ Like you stepped right out of an RPG!" She nods at the fox sage's assessment of the colors. "Oh I know, you did mention that when you commissioned it. You don't want to look garish! So I figured darker shades would be best."

     She raises the camera, a hopeful look in her eyes. "Do you mind if I take a photo for my wall?"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Screw the evidence, Kaiba has money. Entirely too much money, in all likelihood. Which is why Xiaomu more or less ruled out 'legal action' as an option for dealing with him.

"On the other hand," Xiaomu muses, "with the old-school RPGs, the different colors really DID need to stand out - the old Famicom didn't have a lot of subtle shading, and even on the Super Famicom and its competitors, you still had to make the colors stand out."

She gives Tomoyo a quick thumbs-up when the seamstress holds up the camera. "Sure, go for it!" She reaches over to grab her staff; it doesn't quite go with the costume, but since Xiaomu didn't bring a suitable cosplay wizard's staff prop, the Buddhist monk staff will have to suffice. "Got a particular pose you'd like me doing? Should I look like I'm getting a spell ready or something?"

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
     Tomoyo blinks slowly as Xiaomu starts to ramble a little bit about old-school video game graphics. Sure, she can hold a conversation about camera lenses, shutter speed and the like for hours. So she just focuses on what she does know in that statement; color schemes.

    "Oh, I understand~ But that's always the issue with cosplay, isn't it? Sometimes, if you try and be too faithful, it looks horrible in real life. Like those people who wear those kigurumi masks." She shudders at the thought of them.

     "Pose however you like!" she adds, raising the camera, and snapping the photo once Xiaomu has posed. As she lowers it, conflicted feelings dance across her face. She bites her lower lip for a moment, before asking. "Hey Xiaomu... what did you make of Kaiba?"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Kigurumi? Eesh." The sage fox shudders slightly. "I think you mortals call that the 'uncanny valley,' don't you? When something looks *almost* real but just unreal enough to look *wrong* ..."

She's happy to drop THAT subject, though, and shifts into a 'casting' pose, holding her staff vertical in her left hand while her right arm is thrust out in front of her, fingers curled like she's holding a ball of mana that's being formed into the spell she's about to unleash.

"I think he's a conceited jerk who's smart about quite a few things, but is too stubborn or too willfully ignorant to learn anything by getting taken down a peg like Sakura did," she answers Tomoyo's question, relaxing from her pose. "Like I told him when I caught up with him, we basically have three options for following up on what happened. Legal action is pretty much out - he's so rich he can hire any defense attorneys he needs, I figure. That leaves extralegal action, taking our view of the law into our own hands ... which might mean he joins the Confederacy, and I don't want him to do that. Jerks are just jerks, they aren't necessarily *evil*. So that's kind of out too ..."

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    "Uncanny valley is the term, yes," Tomoyo says, poking her tongue out with a 'yuck' face. She also looks terribly pleased at the pose, walking over to show Xiaomu the picture! "Very striking!"

    Listening to her assessment of Kaiba, she nods her head slowly. "It's just... he's only a few years older than me, and he already runs a huge business. Clearly, he's smart and good with money. So why sink all this cost into... what, trying to humiliate Sakura? Even if it worked, the expenditure would not be worth it." She sighs softly, and places a hand on her cheek. "I don't know. It just makes me wonder if there's something wrong with him. Someone who takes over a company that makes weapons and instead makes games can't be all bad. He must have changed recently..."

    Listening to the fox sage's explanation of what they can do, she nods in agreement. "He said and did so much stuff, there's no way he has a lacklustre legal department if he felt secure enough to do so. And we don't want the Confederacy to have another ally... wait, what was the third option?"

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    "I'm not certain that taking direct action against Mister Kaiba is exactly in the cards at the moment." That voice! It could only be... REIJI ARISU. Who is leaning against a nearby doorframe like he was there THE WHOLE TIME. He wasn't, of course, but he can pretend he was, sometimes. "I'd rather not have us be the reason the Confederacy gains access to his rather considerable resources. Moreover, if Sakura's willing to let it go, then we should probably do so as well."

    The exorcist inclines his head slightly at Tomoyo's analysis. He shrugs his shoulders slightly beneath that ever-present red combat jacket. "Well. It's not exactly an uncommon thing. That guy's probably grew up with a very competetive lifestyle. It probably led to him being kind of a... Well."

Kind of a dick?

    "You know," Reiji makes a vague gesture. "Anyway, I'm sure it was mostly a publicity stunt. And if that amusement park sticks around for a little while, he might make his money back. Or maybe he's just that wealthy. Maybe he was just trying to buy back some injured pride like he buys everything else? I don't know."

There's a beat. Reiji looks to Xiaomu, then cants his head. "That would look better if you had a different staff. But it suits you pretty well."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"You should have brought one for me, Reiji," Xiaomu teases her partner. The monk staff gets twirled briefly, the rings jingling, and then Xiaomu ducks back into the fitting booth to change out of it.

That's not going to stop her from talking, though. "Didn't Kaiba's kid brother say on the radio that Kaiba'd only lost to one other person ever? But ... somehow I don't think - he wouldn't have taken a single loss so hard as to completely change his outlook on the business and gaming worlds unless he already *had* such a draconian view of them ... I think there's more to it, don't know how much more."

She pauses; fabric rustles, and there's another poof of gold 'smoke' - which doesn't smell remotely smoke-like. It's faintly reminiscent of fox fur, actually - not a dead and treated pelt, but a vibrantly alive animal. It probably smells better than wild foxes tend to, as well.

"Anyway. The third option - and this was about half a bluff, but if we have to do it, I'll study it out - is to put a curse on him. See if he actually *learns* something on the way to getting it lifted." And on that, Xiaomu emerges, back in her usual Shinra duty outfit.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
     Tomoyo flinches when Reiji starts talking from the door, spinning about to face him! She offers a polite wave and awkwardly says, "Uh... hello sir. We're not actually open right now..." But she relaxes when he addresses Xiaomu. They must be friends!

    Now that she knows he's not some stranger, she begins to consider his words. "I guess he could have been under a lot of pressure to get to where he is..." Tomoyo sometimes forgets that other heirs are put under a lot of pressure to succeed. Her own mom was always so permissive, so...

    Listening to Xiaomu's words next, she rubs her chin. "Did he? I don't have my radio, so... if he's gone so long without losing, then maybe the shock of it did rattle him a bit. I guess, to sum up..." She shrugs a little. "He could just stand to chill out a little~"

    Going behind the counter, she boots up the register, and gives Xiaomu a price on the cosplay. It's terribly reasonable, especially considering that those are real (if low-quality) stones in that diadem. "A curse? Did you have anything specific in mind?"

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    "..." Reiji peers at Xiaomu through the vaguely Xiaomu-smelling smoke as if he could see that second head she'd just grown. Once she emerges, he reaches over and lightly raps the top of her head with the flat of his hand. The motion quickly turns into a slight ruffling movement, though. "I'd like to avoid too many curses. You know what happens if those build up for too long."

Grudges. Grudges happen. And grudges lead to evil spirits, which leads to even bigger problems.

    He nods his head at Tomoyo then. "Yeah, he could. Or at least, he probably should. But maybe he doesn't know how? I mean, if that fiasco was his idea of a 'game,'" Reiji muses, rubbing at his chin with his free hand- the other is still on Xiaomu's head, "I don't exactly think he's got a very good idea of how to cut loose."

Says the guy who is on the job almost twenty-four-seven.

And who didn't exactly have much of a childhood that wasn't spent stabbing monsters in the face.

    "Sorry," he says, "I'm Reiji Arisu. Xiaomu's partner in the Shinra organization. She mentioned she was coming this way for a new outfit or something like that, so I decided to pop in. I apologize if I've caused you any trouble, miss."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"You should commission a costume from Tomoyo too, Reiji!" Xiaomu says brightly; she doesn't react *much* to the hand on her head, but the ruffling does get a slight raising of her chin. "We could cosplay together, it'd be even easier to infiltrate Comiket and do patrols without standing out like you usually do. You wouldn't even need to get a prop sword, although who ever heard of a paladin with a katana? Or more than one." She grins.

"Anyway, I don't really want to go the curse route either - I've got issues with chucking curses on people, even when they really DO deserve it. If I have to curse him, I'm hoping that just *saying* it without any actual application of power will be enough for him to 'trick' himself into being cursed ... and he can break out of it when he learns what he needs to learn."

She pulls out her wallet, checking her supply of cash (probably not enough), and walking over to the counter to offer her credit card. It's Multiverse-compatible so the charge SHOULD go through and get approved.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
     "I guess he became an uptight adult during his high-school years, huh?" Tomoyo looks ponderous as she considers that. Some say that she works too hard... is she going to be like that in a few years? Surely not, she actually enjoys her work.

    "Oh! I'm Tomoyo Daidouji, but you already knew that~ Pleased to meet you Reiji." She bows to the man, her smile slipping a little when Xiaomu suggests that he commission something too. "Oh... well, I would love to. But not right now, I'm sorry. Far too tired to come up with anything decent..."

     As she boots up the card machine to swipe Xiaomu's card, Tomoyo says, "Oh! So like... oh what's the word?" As she swipes the credit card, she begins muttering in pretty good English and broken Latin before saying, "A nocebo! One that turns into a placebo when he improves as a result?" The machine accepts the payment and prints a receipt, which Tomoyo hands over to the fox sage.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
"I'm good," Reiji answers with a bit of a chuckle. "I'm not exactly a costume-wearing sort, and what I've got is mostly combat-ready enough," he bows his head to the tailor, "Not that I don't appreciate your work, Tomoyo." Xiaomu looked pretty good, after all! Some guys just don't do fashion, though.

Regarding the curse-- Reiji draws his hand away after one last pat. "That's a better plan. But it may lead to repercussions of some kind. He'll probably decide to do something foolish before he realizes how bad of an idea that is." Nevermind that Xiaomu herself is pretty dangerous. An angry Reiji is not a very pleasant thing to be on the receiving end of.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"I mostly want to see what Kaiba does about his loss before I do anything else," Xiaomu says. She accepts the receipt from Tomoyo, signs it, and slides it back across the counter to her. "As it is, Kaiba knows the three options as I laid them out; hopefully he's going to take the warnings to heart without needing actual threats behind them."

Once she has her card and her copy of the receipt, she tucks them back into her wallet. "So just what WAS he doing with that card he'd stolen and which Theo stole back, anyway? Was he really running a whole amusement park with that thing?" Apparently she caught the news report.

"Would've thought that guy was smarter than to run an operation like that on borrowed Time ..."

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    "Ah! Oh, of course..." Silly Tomoyo, just assuming that everyone would want one of her outfits. 'Mustn't get a big head,' she reminds herself. Nodding along with Reiji, she adds, "He's had his first real taste of the Multiverse now. He's not a big koi in a small pond anymore, so maybe he'll mellow out on his own."

     Looking at Xiaomu, as the resident expert on all things Sakura, she begins to explain! "He somehow got his hands on The Time! That whole part suddenly sprung up overnight, so I guess he used it to accelerate the construction."

    A black car with tinted windows pulls up outside the store. Tomoyo looks out the window and says, "Oh, that's my ride~ I'm glad you like it Xiaomu, and it was good meeting you Reiji." She bows to both members of Shinra in turn.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    Reiji knows all about cars with tinted windows. They speak of particularly wealthy owners, members of government and/or organized crime. Reiji is betting on the first of those three. "It was nice to meet you too. Have a good night, Tomoyo. You've had quite a day. Maybe if I ever need a new suit one of these days, I'll give you a call."

Because secret agents need suits. That's a rule! ...Somewhere.

    He glances at Xiaomu, then gestures for the door himself, "We should probably get going too. I doubt she'd want the two of us loitering around in her store."

Plus that's sort of illegal.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"That we should," Xiaomu agrees, picking up her new costume. "Thanks, Tomoyo! Sleep tight when you get to your bed!" She smiles, bowing to the seamstress, and heads on out with Reiji so that Tomoyo can lock up behind them.

There may be some teasing about a tuxedo in Reiji's future, but it's been a wearying day for Xiaomu too, so she's going to be merciful tonight.