Scene #3441: Magic in the Botique

Owner	Pose
Tomoyo Daidouji	Winter's chill is starting to creep into Tomoeda, the skies above a dull grey, threatening rain, or perhaps even snow. The trees are becoming bare, gnarled branches revealed, stretching up like fingers grasping at that ominous sky. And yet, the citizens are starting to fill with the cheer that only an incoming Christmas can bring. They mill about in warm wear, window shopping at festively decorated stores. It's mainly the youths who have just gotten out of school, clad in their winter uniforms. Should they arrive by air or land, Alice and Konoe draw a lot of attention. The locals have gotten used to looking for Elites, and they are greeted by happy waves, curious looks, and are even captured in a couple of photographs! Alice no-doubt knows the way to the Boutique, and they arrive at the same time as Tomoyo does, wrapped up in her red school uniform. She's accompanied by Yamazaki, also in his uniform. "Good afternoon~" the tailor says in greeting, unlocking the door and stepping inside, making the bell jingle cheerfully. "Please, come in. It would be much more pleasant to talk out of the cold."
Alice Margatroid	Ah, the winter chill... the time when the winter based youkai come out to play as well. It's days like this that being indoors, under the kotatsu would be the best thing ever. However, for Alice, this will be different. Something's been on Alice's mind ever since the incident in Makai. Someone who can't use magic... using a Spellcard. Alice at least comes by air and the moment she looks down, she's greeted by pictures, looks and waves. "Oh... Aya must have been here to show them how to use those..." she shakes her head and gives a polite wave back before landing around the Boutique. "Good afternoon, Tomoyo. Hopefully we wern't bothering." she gives a smile, Hourai and Shanghai are right behind her this time, and both of them immediately move to hug Tomoyo's arms. "HIYA!" "Good afternoon, Tomoyo..." Alice looks around a bit, some of those people still staring. "It's like they haven't seen anyone fly before..." she shakes her head, "Hello... we're just visiting, sorry to alarm!"
Konoe Kanno	Coming to an unfamiliar place, Konoe was understandably guarded at first. The sights, the sounds, they were familiar in a way, given how often she went to Boston, yet they weren't the same. This was...Tomoeda? That's what Alice called it, right? Well, after hearing Alice on the radio, Konoe grabbed the 'bag on the table' as requested and set out to meet her. She miraculously didn't get lost, and eventually, came flying in from the sky not too long after Alice did. "...It's cold." She muttered to herself as she floated through the air, ignoring the chatter below seemingly about her. Landing with a soft tap behind Alice, Konoe peered around at Tomoyo and Yamazaki. "Hello, Tomoyo-san. Um...And I don't think we met." She stepped forward, aside Alice, and nodded to Tomoyo, and then Yamazaki. And then to Alice, she raised the bag. "Is this what you wanted?"
Tomoyo Daidouji	Tomoyo laughs as the two dolls come out to hug her. "Hello to you two as well." Holding the door for everyone, she follows them inside, closing the door and flipping the sign from 'Closed' to 'Open.' "Oh, not bothering at all~ I hope you don't mind if I get ready to work while we talk though," she says, running a hand down a series of light switches to get the soft lighting going. "They have seen people fly," she then explains. "But it's always a treat to see. Usually they're on the lookout for Sakura, but other Elites always garner attention~" "I'm Takashi Yamazaki," the boy says to introduce himself. "By the way, speaking of flying! Did you know..." he begins, no doubt about to launch into another story. Thankfully, Tomoyo cuts him off. "Yamazaki, would you mind making everyone tea to warm us up until the heaters kick in?" The boy begins to head upstairs, still rambling about how flies are called that because the ancients believed that they were the only creature capable of genuine flight. "What did you need to talk with me about?" Tomoyo asks Alice, going behind the counter to shrug her backpack off. "And what is this about a bag?"
Alice Margatroid	"I see, well. Hopefully it doesn't become too strange for them." Alice gives a bit of a smile, bowing towards Takeshi, "I'm Alice Margatroid, this is Konoe Kanno. A pleasure to meet you." heading inside, she gives a bit of a nod, "AH, tea sounds nice, I bet you make a good cup of it, Yamazaki. Thank you!" She grins a bit, "Shanghai, Hourai, go help him." with a nod from the two dolls, they follow...a bit reluctantly... to help the boy. "DOn't mind us, Alice likes tea." Once the dolls and the boy's out of sound, she looks around, nodding. "Ah, the bag has some cookies the koakuma baked. They thought you'd enjoy it.. as an apology for tricking you. As for why I'm here... it's about what I saw in Makai." "Konoe saw it too and.. having a second head to think this over is nice as well.. but.. How? I don't think Hourai and Shanghai did anything to help with even a spellcard... It's been confusing me..."
Konoe Kanno	Konoe stepped inside, removing her sandals before going further. Yamazaki is given a not at his introduction, and she said nothing. Alice had already introduced her. "Thank you, Yamazaki-san." Nothing else to say, Konoe set the bag down onto the nearest surface carefully. She hadn't actually looked. But she did smell something like baked goods coming from it. Hrm. Once Alice got down to explaining why they were here in the first place, Konoe's expression got a bit sheepish. "Well...that's what Alice says, but I'm not entirely sure I'll actually be much help here." She smiled a bit, but then moved along. "But yes, she's been really curious about that for a while now." Looking upwards idly in thought, the miko paused. "Well, can't some humans from the village defend themselves with danmaku?"
Tomoyo Daidouji	Yamazaki is very thankful for the help! Namely because it means he can keep telling his story to the two dolls. Tomoyo meanwhile, beams happily. "Oh, that was very sweet of them. We can share them over tea," she says, kneeling down to turn the sound system on. Gentle muzak begins to play from discrete speakers. Listening to the two, she nods in understanding. "I guess you would be a little confused~ It worked like this." Reaching into her backpack, she retrieves the flying blanket Alice gifted to her, folded very neatly. "This absorbs ambient magic to fuel itself. So I thought to myself, 'If I unravelled some of this and used the threads to manipulate dolls the way Alice does, maybe I could perform some simple danmaku.'" She unfolds it, revealing that it is no longer unravelled. "Obviously, I wove it back together afterwards~ But with Shanghai and Hourai's help, I was able to imitate you to some degree. As for the spellcard... well, I just called it that really~ It seemed the thing to do." She giggles softly. "All it really involved was having the dolls swirl around you so the strings became a woven cage. I got the idea from doing cat's cradle to try and build up finger dexterity. The strings wouldn't have hurt you. Goodness, you could have probably shot them apart if you tried." A slightly sheepish shrug is offered. "I called it a 'Barest Spellcard' for a reason. I guess I was just showing off~" Looking to Konoe, Tomoyo nods. "Possibly! But I don't have any magic at all. That's probably why Alice is so curious."
Alice Margatroid	"Mmhm!" Alice nods, "Most humans in the village aren't capable of it. More so when they have Kamishirasawa to guard them." she makes an aside to the Miko before watching the tailor pull out her gift. "AH, so you used the blanket... interesting." she gives a bit of a nod, "And Hourai and Shanghai showed you how to use it... I get it..." a pause..."Mmm." "I still have to say that it was, for a simple card, a well done entrapment spell, wouldn't you think so, Konoe?" she gives a bit of a thought, "You put thought into it, you put effort into learning and for that... even if it was simple card... you used a spellcard." a nod comes to the dollmaker and she looks towards Konoe then back at Tomoyo. "Regular danmaku doesn't usually have entrapment patterns, so that would classify as a true spellcard." Alice taps her foot, thinking.. SOmething's turning in the dollmaker's head.. but what.
Konoe Kanno	"Oh, I see...So that's what you did." Konoe nodded in understanding, once Tomoyo explained how she managed to use a spellcard. "Well that makes sense." Funny how spellcard theory is the only thing she seems to understand. "So you used the built up magic particles in the blanket to power a spellcard in tandem with Shanghai and Hourai...I see." Konoe glanced at Alice and nodded. "You call it 'Barest Spellcard', but it was actually pretty clever, I think." The miko smiled at that. "If you can absorb magic particles with your blanket, and then manipulate them with unraveled threads, you have a continuous way to keep using spellcards." She tapped her chin thoughtfully then. "Hmm...Even if you yourself don't have any magic, I think you might be onto something that can make up for that."
Tomoyo Daidouji	Tomoyo looks from the dollmaker to the cat miko, trying her best to keep a pleased smile from crossing her face. "It's not that big a deal, really," she says, ever humble. But it does mean a lot coming from the likes of them. Her plan really can work... Thankfully, Yamazaki descends the stairs just in time, to spare Tomoyo further embarrassment. He's holding a tray with a teapot and four cups, placing it down on the counter as he wraps up his story. "... and so they would giant mirrors on boats to properly reflect the clouds." Tomoyo takes up her duties as a hostess, pouring everyone a cup of green tea. She looks to Alice, noticing her pacing. "Is something the matter?" she asks, tilting her head and offering Alice her cup.
Alice Margatroid	"But why mirrors to reflect the clouds?" Shanghai replies as they follow along, tilting her head while Hourai looks ready to send a lance into his head. Alice snaps out of her little daze and gives a bit of a nod. "If you don't have magic... perhaps we can ... hmm." she shakes her head a bit "Even if it's just simple danmaku..." an idea comes into her head, "Ah!" "I need to borrow your outfit that I made for you. I'm going to sew a few things into it to allow you use simple danmaku and that spellcard. And no calling it 'barest', that was a true spellcard." she nods a bit, smiling. Hourai and Shanghai blink, "What... did Alice get an idea for another doll?" Alice takes the offered cup and sips, "Ah, this is nice." she smiled, "But yes, it won't allow you to fly but it would have enough to just use simple patterns and the spellcard."
Konoe Kanno	At Yamazaki's return, Konoe let Tomoyo escape any further embarrassment via praise. She took an offered cup with a quick 'Thanks', but didn't drink right away. Instead, she looked between Alice and Tomoyo, listening to their talk. "I thought you might be thinking of doing that." Konoe mused aloud offhandedly. "Given that her blanket can do what it does, if you apply the same thing to something more immediate, then Tomoyo-san should be able to do what she did a bit easier." A pause followed in which she had a sip of her tea. "Mmmn...Actually, if you could do what you did via an outfit like Alice is suggesting, if you combine that with the power from your blanket, you should be able to do something stronger, right?" A finger was brought to her cheek in thought. "Not all of the time, but maybe in a short burst."
Tomoyo Daidouji	"Because they needed the sharpest reflections possible for their designs," Yamazaki explains, raising his finger to go on another tangent. Thankfully, Tomoyo thrusts a Christmas wreath towards him. "Could you hang this on the door please~?" The young man takes the decoration and steps outside, closing the door to keep the heat in, blocking out the words of his little tale. Tomoyo meanwhile, listens to Alice as she sips her tea. "Oh, that's very kind of you, but don't worry about me~" Inwardly, she's quite thrilled of course. The idea of magical clothes that grant her power seems so perfect! But she's far too polite to just immediately accept. Besides, Alice might feel obligated after putting everyone through that incident. Looking to Konoe, she nods in agreement. "The blanket is rather dependant on high levels of ambient magic... so at the very least, I might be of more help during incidents in Gensokyo!" A quick look back to Alice, and she hastily adds, "Of course, only if Alice is really sure she wants to go out of her way..."
Alice Margatroid	"After the incident, I feel like I need to do something. I've let Konoe sleep in the guest bedroom instead of the couch.. and I need to do something for Yuna and the others." she nods "So let me do this for you. And... further more, I'd like to show you more puppetry on how you can do it yourself." a look towards Konoe, "Perhaps, the 'barest' might end up with a second level pattern." Hourai lets out a happy sigh as Yamazaki is given another task, "HIs... stories are as far fetched as the villagers... How do you stand him?" she shakes her head and floats over to rest near Alice. Shanghai giggles, "He's kinda cute with those stories! They're fun, very fun! If a bit out there. I wanna hear more!" and off she goes out the door to help. Hourai shakes her head, "Shanghai..." Alice stifles a soft giggle. "Those four dolls.. and that card are yours to keep, by the way, and.." she pulls something out of her blouse... it's string. "This will attach to the dolls and..." she pulls something else out, finger bands. "And these will direct the flow of magic. The string isn't invisible like mine but, it will do the job."
Konoe Kanno	Konoe smiled a tad at Tomoyo. "Well, we'll hope there aren't any incidents so soon, but if they come up, your help will be welcomed, Tomoyo-san." Not that she was in a position to be deciding, but she'd just put that out there anyway. She looked towards Alice and shrugged. "Second level will depend on Tomoyo-san's own hard work." Pause. "But I think she can do it." And with that said, she went back to sipping her tea quietly and letting the two girls talk.
Tomoyo Daidouji	Tomoyo smiles to Alice. "It's wonderful that you want to make amends~ I'll have it sent to you as soon as I get home." She's accepting the offer, at least! Rubbing the back of her head, she smiles as Alice raises the possibility of a second pattern. "If something comes to me, maybe~" Konoe's vote of confidence draws a bigger smile from the tailor. "Thank you Konoe~ But there's no need to be so formal. I'm just a humble tailor, after all." Looking to Hourai, she lets out a little giggle and says, "I quite like his stories. Besides, I needed a male employee to measure male customers, and he was already quite adept at sewing. Also, I didn't want to hire a stranger, and I've known him for a while~" Again, she's humble and not yet capable of actually being someone's boss. With wide eyes, she accepts what Alice offers, slipping the rings on her fingers. "This is so generous Alice... thank you very much." Reaching across the counter, she takes the dollmaker's hand in her own and squeezes it fondly. "You've been so supportive of me. Thank you so much." She then looks to Konoe and releases Alice's hand to take the cat miko's. "And you came to see me, to help me. Even though we barely know each other. Thank you too~"
Alice Margatroid	Alice nods, "Alright. It won't look any different but it'll be a bit more comfortable and you'll be able to hide the string in there. I'll even teach you how to summon the dolls from anywhere." she smiles, her hands being held she gives a bit of a nod, "I don't do this for anyone. But I think you are worth it." she nods, looking towards Konoe. Hourai shakes her head, "I understand but he... is stranger than the cat miko here." "Hourai!" "Sorry..." Alice shakes her head and chuckles, "Take your time. Maybe one day, you might be able to create a second spellcard and I await that day."
Konoe Kanno	"..." Konoe was silent. She wasn't very good at being...well, not formal. But, maybe she could try a little. She does it with Alice after all. "...Okay...Tomoyo." Ugh, it felt so disrespectful. But if that's what she wanted... "You're welcome." Tomoyo might have to be a bit careful taking Konoe's hand. She had claws. Thick, red claws jutting out of the ends of her fingers. That aside, once her hand was taken, she blinked. "Well..." She wound up averting her eyes, feeling a little embarrassed now. "It was...nothing, really."
Tomoyo Daidouji	Tomoyo offers the two Gensokyo residents another smile. "I'll do my best not to let you down~" she says. Already, her mind is filling with possible ideas... but she doesn't want to get too far ahead of herself. She doesn't even know what she'll be capable of with Alice's enhancements. And she has work to do right now! And speaking of! She quickly drains her cup and says, "Alice, Konoe. It means a lot for you two to come visit me. But I am on the clock right now, so as wonderful as your company is... if there's nothing more, I should probably get to work." She sounds a little disheartened to be so curt, but...
Alice Margatroid	Alice knows that look and nods, "I'll leave the cookies here." she smiles, "Well, I don't want to keep you then, Konoe, let's go. I need to get dinner prepared for tonight, what would you like?" Hourai and Shanghai, however, move to hug Tomoyo, "It's okay! Work is work! We won't keep you, Tomoyo!" Shanghai grins, "Bye bye!" Alice heads towards the door and briefly opens it, "Thanks for having us over and I look forward to working on it." she lkooks to Konoe, "I might get your help on it too!"
Konoe Kanno	Konoe stood as well, bowing her head a bit. "Thank you for having us during your work hours. We'll see ourselves out." And she turned away, following after Alice towards the door. While she walked, she glanced back to Tomoyo, and after a moment of silence, added. "Good luck, Tomoyo. I know you can do it." And then she looked on ahead at Alice as they headed out. "Um...I don't really mind whatever it is, as long as there's meat." A pause followed. "Maybe I can help you prepare dinner this time?" Konoe probably wasn't a great cook, but she hasn't truly tried either. On the subject of the dress, Konoe blinked. "My help on the dress? Can I actually do anything to help with that?"