Sensory overload

[singlefaith]

Who: Ran, Chikusa, Heiji, and Conan in one; Ran and Heiji in the other. OPEN PROMPT AVAILABLE TOO.
When: A few days after Awakening and this conversation.
Where: Stop and Smell the Roses (Ran's mother's flower shop) and the Hartwell house
What: Probable Doom on all fronts


A. Closed - Stepping into the flower shop is like walking into a small secret garden. The space itself isn't huge -- in fact, it's one of the smaller shops on the street. But it makes an impression. The scent hits first -- dozens of different flower types twining into one heady aroma, with the underlying faintly musty tang of fresh soil and moss. Color is next -- peach and purple and pink and red and yellow and pale green and nearly every color in between, clustered in pails and urns and great glass vases that trail ivy. Silk flowers mingle in with the fresh, and it's nearly impossible to tell the difference between them unless they're in the refrigerators that line a back wall. Antiques and curiosities -- large furniture, ornate mirrors, lamps, knick-nacks -- mingle in with the flowers, waiting to be discovered among the blooms.

There's a network of narrow pathways to move around the store, periodically dotted with garden arches twined with silk ivy and tiny flowers. One trail wends its way through back to the working counter, where Ran's mother (and sometimes Ran, on lesser arrangements) arranges flowers. Another leads back towards the register (also an antique) and the refrigerated arrangements. Another door, marked "Employees Only," leads down to a dungeon-like basement.

This is Stop and Smell the Roses. It's currently occupied by one Ran Mouri, trying to work with Chikusa after a certain conversation. Can this really go well?

. . . We forgot to mention the detectives lurking around to keep an eye on things. There may be no hope.

B. Closed - A few days of awkward silence pass. Finally, Ran resolves to do something about it. She comes to the Hartwell house in the early morning just as she used to do before her memories returned, letting herself in out of habit. It's still quite early, and the kitchen is dark and empty. Drawing a breath, Ran flicks the lights on and begins to work.

The smell of warm pancakes and coffee fills the house, the aroma coaxing the boys downstairs.

There's one she needs to talk to in particular.

C. OPEN - Want to come in the flower shop to interact with Chikusa or Ran? Come on in!

Comments

[touketsu]

[Fubuki sighed, the sound long and drawn out, clearly exaggerated for effect even as he held the succulent up off the counter to make it easier to slip into the bag.]

Don't you get tired of doing that? I think I'd get tired of that.

[Is he being vague on purpose?

You better believe he is.]

[kokuyoyo]

[As he carefully slides the succulent into the bag, Chikusa makes sure to make direct eye contact with the teen across the counter.]

I'm always tired.

[touketsu]

[And Fubuki returns the look, unblinking and positively beaming as he hands over the appropriate amount of macca for the plant.]

That sounds tiresome.

[Hah.]

How long is your break? We can do something fun while we talk. I do my best thinking when I'm enjoying myself with other people, anyway.

[kokuyoyo]

[Fubuki no]

[Chikusa doesn't say much in words, at least, only sighs as he accepts the macca and tucks the receipt into the bag. One last check at the time... He should be fine with this. Shuffling out from behind the counter, he goes to put up the break sign on the door and lock it.]

Half an hour... Is that enough time for what you wanted to talk about?

[No comment on the 'fun' thing.]

[touketsu]

[Fubuki yes, Fubuki always yes!]

I don't know if half an hour is long enough for anything...but we'll make it work.

[He couldn't promise an exorbitant amount of fun in so short a span of time, but goodness knows he'd try his best to ensure they weren't miserable. Or that Chikusa was, depending upon how one looked at it.

Still brimming with cheer, and now with a new plant! Fubuki watched the other boy as he locked up. If they weren't going outside to talk, then...]

Where's the break room?

[Never mind that non-employees probably shouldn't go there. Rules didn't always have to be followed.]

[kokuyoyo]

[For some reason, this is just making him suspect a good chunk of dread is lurking for him on the horizon.... If not for the fact that they really do have important things to talk about, he'd drag worse than usual in getting back there. As it is, he's at normal (if still slow) speed. After a minute of getting back behind the counter, he nudges open the door and jerks his head towards the tiny little area.]

[It's probably not the fanciest kind of place, but it's enough that isn't the storage closet, and that would probably make him suspicious. maybe.]

You are going to talk about important things, right...

[touketsu]

[Whether or not it was wise to do so, Fubuki followed Chikusa behind the counter and into the break room without question. It wasn't lavish, but he hadn't expected it to be, either. So long as they had a place to sit comfortably and talk without being interrupted, that was all that mattered.]

I think we are? That's why I came here, isn't it?

[He promptly took a seat and set his plant down on the table before him, short legs swinging idly back and forth.]

I think I remember talking about organizing a game of Command Tower. [He was reluctant to call it practice. That sounded so tedious.] And we were going to talk about a headquarters where we can all meet, too.

[kokuyoyo]

I've already got ideas written down for a headquarters... It's just a matter of getting the permission.

[A slight pause overtakes him. Talking a lot is something he usually reserve for Mukuro to do, or Ken. Now that the latter is here, he sort of just wants to lapse into silence again and not talk much... but he knows that won't do at all.]

What we need is a place that won't seem suspicious for both adults and students to congregate at. So... I was thinking that I could make a cafe some sort of project, based off of what the Gardening Club did at the Flower Festival. I just have to write something convincing enough...

[touketsu]

Like a proposal? That shouldn't be too hard.

[Not very fun, but not very hard, either. Convincing people to do things was something Fubuki was pretty good at, after all. Especially girls. Most girls, anyway.]

Just write about how it'll promote school spirit as well as give students working there great workforce experience. We can even use apples from the apple orchard at school if they let us and do promotional food and drinks. And if we pick the apples ourselves we can also snoop around at the same time. That's where the first attack was, right?

[kokuyoyo]

School spirit...? [That has him pause, blinking a little.] I hadn't thought about that...

[But then again, discounting Ciro's own experiences, Chikusa has never really attended school. The concept of 'school spirit' has been one he's never bothered to learn. Still, if it's been mentioned.. Taking out his phone, he makes a quick note to himself on the idea. It's better than nothing.]

Yeah, it was... And the second one as well. I wonder if it's just coincidence or not...

[touketsu]

Mm, I think that'll really make the cafe work. Grownups always like it when kids 'give back' to the community.

[Fubuki that's manipulative...]

And that's probably something we should ask Luci, but I don't know if he'll tell us.

[Luci was dodgy that way, even Fubuki knew that, but maybe if someone he liked did the asking he'd be inclined to give them a real answer?]

It's something to think about, anyway. And we also need to think about how to be better prepared for the next Awakening. None of us have been able to practice together really...

[kokuyoyo]

[Manipulative, fortunately, is exactly what Chikusa is looking for. Social smarts have always been a weakness of his- the kind of thing that happens when you live on the outskirts of society and only interact for supplies or murder. So he focuses sharply on Fubuki, taking everything in.]

Then, for that kind of thing, could you write something on that? I'll focus on the practical reasons...

[Learning how business works, handling money, that kind of thing.]

When we have access to those... Persona- [That's what Luci had called them, hadn't he?] -then it'll be easier. For now, teamwork is the hardest thing to do... But we can't be obvious about it.

...But teamwork is a mental thing, right?

[touketsu]

[Fubuki gave a sharp nod of his head. Writing up part of their plan wouldn't be difficult, and coupled with Chikusa's practical approach, they'd have a solid proposal.]

Yeah, that's fine with me.

[He'd have it ready in a day or two, but more immediately, he shook his head in disagreement with the rest of what Chikusa had to say.]

It's mental and physical. Even if we can't use our Personas, we still need to learn how to work together and what everyone's strengths and weaknesses are. It's...kind of like playing soccer. A team that doesn't know each other doesn't trust each other and they make dumb mistakes on the field.

[kokuyoyo]

Still, while doing that by utilizing CT would be for the best... We only have so much time in the day with CT, considering school, jobs, and, most importantly... curfew.

[His head tilts slightly.]

Working physically together would be ideal... But just adjusting to how we are as people in a team situation... That's the core of it, I'd think. So maybe we could use some sort of multiplayer game... It's the only thing that will be available to use after curfew.

[touketsu]

Like a video game?

[The idea of sitting around in front of a screen mashing buttons wasn't one that sounded very appealing to Fubuki at first, although...some sports games were multiplayer, and that meant that there was a chance they could all play virtual soccer together. While that wouldn't be real soccer, it'd still be the closest he'd been to the actual sport since Awakening.

He missed it so much that he couldn't possibly reject Chikusa's suggestion and a broad smile erupted on his face as he leaned forward. You could take the boy out of soccer, but not soccer out of the boy, it seemed.]

I like that idea! That sounds like fun.

[Never mind it'd be more likely they'd be playing first person shooters than sports games...]

[kokuyoyo]

[uM]

[Fubuki's sudden learn forward only has Chikusa lean back, caught off guard by the sudden enthusiasm. It'd been the easiest thing he could think of, something that would require a bit of coordinating but still more manageable than getting them all to break curfew to play CT. Awkwardly, his fingers rub against the surface of the table.]

You.... seem like you have an idea or something...

[That or he's really excited to have an excuse slacking off playing video games.]