2022-01-26: The Guy Who Stepped On My Kimono Is A Weirdo
- Log: The Guy Who Stepped On My Kimono Is A Weirdo
- Cast: Sumire Kanzaki, Sousuke Sagara
- Where: Nouvelle Tokyo, Jindai Ward
- OOC - IC Date: 2022-01-26
- Summary: Sumire Kanzaki meets a weird golem child.
<Pose Tracker> Sumire Kanzaki has posed.
SUMIRE KANZAKI - darling starling of the beautifully lit stage - is down here, on the surface, for a few different reasons, most of them boring and one of them moderately important: she had been joining several local idols as part of an effort to cut a somewhat-forgettable but catchy pop single to raise funds for relief.
You could criticize this as a patch on a broken system or on a representation of the true healing heart of music, but both are perhaps true...
ANYWAY
Sumire has an advantage of sorts, for a celebrity. While she is, of course, beautiful - obligatorily so - she has the sort of face that looks more like a magazine model's, rather than someone who is constantly on television. She is thus able to walk among the public, and is unlikely to be called out instantly. She exploits this ruthlessly. Such as now, in the small cluster of vaguely olde-tymey buildings that represent the TRADITIONAL* DISTRICT** of the Jindai district, where she has purchased some*** of the local specialty**** -- which has, just now, been loaded into several paper bags.
"Thank you so much for your service. I'm sure everyone in the Revue will adore these," says Sumire, who is, did we mention, wearing a purple kimono - appropriately cut for the season, worn with the shoulders and collarbone fully bare - as she takes back her credit card, tucks it into her netsuke-wallet, and turns to walk out with her bags.
FUN FACT: This place's specialty is thin slices of yam, fried, pressed, and fried again before being seasoned with sugar, salt and powdered chili blend. OK, it's largely sweetish potato chips - but it's a local specialty, for the love of heaven.
Sumire Kanzaki, her face in a calm neutrality and only slightly elevated, walks out through the entranceway. She has not noticed, but the hem of her kimono is brushing the ground, ever so slightly.
* - the buildings look old and have tatami mats sometimes
** - 2 shopping district blocks around an old shrine
*** - eight small bags, one extra-large bag
**** - local specialty since UC 0061 when they decided they needed a draw and it was this or the mayo octopus balls
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Sousuke Sagara is just another local - a young man of about high school age in the local high school uniform, whose skin looks maybe a little too weatherbeaten, but then again, at his age, even normal city life would've been pretty rough for a little while. His hair is a bit shaggy. Scar on the cheek, dark gray eyes. A bit striking, if you look at him for long; easily disappears, if you don't.
He is moving to enter the store as Sumire exits, pulling from his pockets a small note to review the contents.
He feels his foot land on something that isn't the ground, as it comes down on the edge of Sumire's kimono. It's brief; he jumps, like he expects the ground to now explode, a good few feet back.
But it is enough.
<Pose Tracker> Sumire Kanzaki has posed.
It is enough.
Sumire had been about to turn and what happens instead is that she finds her forward momentum being turned downwards at a sudden abrupt speed. Her first thought in this moment is: NOT AGAIN.
Then, perhaps, memories of better times - hopes that will never come to pass - for now she is about to die, struck against pavement in a tragic incident. There is the sudden SMAK of about 110 pounds of woman and 8 pounds of kimono smacking the pavement, and a rustling of spilled bags, the scent of still-hot fried yam slices filling the air.
A menacing silence passes.
Sousuke was right. Sumire rolls onto her back, kips upwards, readjusts herself and then leans forwards, face contorted with fury. Somehow, despite her 7-odd centimeters of height disadvantage on Sousuke, she looks down on him.
"Excuse me! I beg your pardon, sir!" Sumire says. (She doesn't.) "I don't understand if you're distracted or if you've been shell shocked by the difficulties of life on the surface but if you DIDN'T NOTICE, you had just placed your foot in a decisive weight-bearing step on my HEM! And now all this is ruined! I cannot believe for a moment that you could possibly be so terribly clumsy!!"
TACTICAL INTENSITY INCREASES
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Sumire brings all of her phenomenal power to bear upon Sousuke Sagara. An actress is able to fill a space better than anyone, after all, and she manages to domineer upward, and yet...
Sousuke, realizing he is not about to become a corpse, has basically no expression on his face. "Apologies," he says, neutrally. He glances downward as if considering the hem of her garment and then back up at her. "I appear to have stepped on your trailing hem while considering my upcoming purchases. We're both fortunate, in 0082 an incident like this between two rival villages in the Balic region led to a four-year bloodbath." ... "But you do not appear to be missing any teeth, so I doubt it will come to that."
<Pose Tracker> Sumire Kanzaki has posed.
"So you admit it!" Sumire says hotly. She raises one hand with fingers splayed as if considering on some level whether or not to get to face slapping, but Sousuke seems to nonpluss her with what he says next:
"Ehh? That's horrible. What?" (Where is the Balics? Sumire thinks. Did he mean Baltics? Is this some colony I never went to? What's this about teeth?)
Rage turns to horror as she puts a hand over her own cheek, then feels around. "Oh! Oh no. Did I scrape anything!? I think I blocked -- but -- ugh!! Give me your phone!"
If surrendered, she immediately takes a selfie and inspects it.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Sousuke looks less frazzled and more like a walrus is making a lot of noise at him and he's not sure if it's his problem.
"I do not see any meaningful injuries," Sousuke says, but 'meaningful injuries' means something different to him so like, would he know? No.
He has and *could provide* a mirror, but Sumire has no way to know this and instead asks for his phone, and being a robot, Sousuke blinks, and then hands over...
....the cheapest flip-top burner phone any person with 300 meters has ever seen.
The camera is like .5 megapixels.
<Pose Tracker> Sumire Kanzaki has posed.
Sumire looks briefly horrified at the picture, then realizes the resolution is beensy, then scowls in darkness as she flips the phone up together. She raises it up in front of Sousuke, looking at him with a gaze that can pierce souls.
"What," she says, "is this...?"
"I think my grandfather had one of these... when he was in college. It's practically an antique," Sumire continues, though her expression softens as she considers it. "If it's still functional... hm. I see. Perhaps I've misjudged you." The phone is shut - almost reverently - and held forwards.
"I have not yet had my satisfaction of you, sir," she continues. "I insist that you assist me in recovering my purchases, so I may assess what I will need to buy," shoulder sag, "in replacement."
With this she turns to step outside of the doorway, gesturing for Sousuke to follow. This may, of course, not actually occur.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Sousuke blinks once, like she had asked him what shoes are. "It's a burner phone. Modern smartphone security is profoundly insecure and provides no materially useful features. A phone like that is cheap and easily disposed of in the event it is tapped, tampered with, or tracked."
He accepts it from her, then takes one look at the screen, flips it shut and decides it gets to live another day, tucking it into his pockets.
Sousuke does not entirely understand his situation, but his limited ability to interface with, like, reality, tells him to obey. Kaname would help, right? Yeah.
(Kaname and Sumire would be in a full-on joshi hardcore match by now, for the record.)
He follows. "Not a problem," he says.
<Pose Tracker> Sumire Kanzaki has posed.
(Some things are inevitable. And some things, are Takesabroso.)
The situation can be found on the sidewalk. Approximately half of the little bags and the really big bag burst asunder when Sumire ate big shit on the pavement; she has not touched them. A local dog has emerged, hopefully looking at the spilled fried yam slices. He looks up at Sousuke as if hoping he has authority.
Sumire palms her face. "You sound paranoid. You can have a secure smartphone, you just need the right chips and a basic modicum of intelligence! Of course, I suppose it isn't free, and..." Sumire considers how to put it delicately, and ends up with:
"I understand we all do the best that we can, within our means."
Sumire is still not helping.
"I was visiting this place because it was the site of the local speciality... I'm detached at this exact moment from my usual group, but I wanted to bring them back something, from my travels. Do you ever have the opportunity to do that, Mister...??"
Sumire continues not to help pick things up.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Sousuke looks at the dog and his face softens....not at all. Like looking at a rock. Maybe Sousuke is the rock. Do they have golems on Earth? Maybe that's it.
Sousuke COMPLETELY misses Sumire's 'delicate' implication. Because he has been asked to and is basically a machine that does things he's told to do (when he's not on a timetable, anyway) he does, in fact, obediently pick up the bags that are not completely ruined. He packs them like a man who packs many things into bags often. "The possibility of interception or carrier-based tracking is not controllable from the hardware side, though. My preference is no device at all, but I've found it necessary, recently." Because when he told Kaname he couldn't receive text messages she gave him even more of a look like he was some kind of incomprehensible crystalline slug than usual.
Paranoid... "I get told that often," he muses, and hefts the Mega Bag up for Sumire's inspection.
"My name is Sagara," he says. "Sousuke Sagara." ... "I have not often had the occasion." One time he got Mao what he thought was a useful and practical gift and she punched him directly in the mouth.
<Pose Tracker> Sumire Kanzaki has posed.
"I am... Sumire," says Guess Who, being cagey perhaps about her surname, which is probably enough to suggest mystery. Perhaps it matters to Sousuke Sagara. Maybe... not.
"Ah... I suppose if you don't travel, and nor do your peers... then," Sumire says, seemingly obscurely sorrowful as the baggies are collected.
"Only four... hm, I could pick and choose who I like the best..."
Sumire looks up.
"I'm a little torn... Do you think I should go buy a new set? Share these out with the others, even if it's going to be less satisfying?"
Or is there a third option?
The dog is eating the food in the street.
Sumire looks at Sousuke with a certain expectation, as if there is some urgency to choosing one of these three potential responses.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Sumire. He will remember this name.
Sumire reaches a conclusion he did not mean, but he does not correct her. Because that would require explaining things about himself that he is not supposed to.
She asks him...a question. He looks to the dog, who is very happy. He looks to the bags of treats. He looks to Sumire's expectant face.
"That quantity should be ample for a group of up to fifteen if rationed properly," he says, finally.
<Pose Tracker> Sumire Kanzaki has posed.
The dog is into this. The dog's going to follow Sousuke around now. That's his life. Probably Kaname or someone will end up adopting it. Sousuke may never notice.
Sumire receives Sousuke's thought.
Some would say that when you use your creativity, there are no wrong answers.
This is incorrect. That was the wrong answer. Sumire looks as though she just smelled someone opening a can of that Norwegian fish dish that has cans built to expand 'a little bit, but not too much' from the rotting fish within.
"... Thank you for your time, Mr. Sagara. Watch your step."
With this she turns around, walks to the end of the block, and *immediately* gets into a passing black car which seems to have been sent by the gods or, more realistically, a discreetly palmed signal to a driver. The car immediately does a tight K-turn and departs in the other direction, merging into the highway towards the nearest port.