Day 42, Noon: The Twin Pine Restaurant

[thatdamnedninja]

Yuffie took the long way around, practically making it a tour of the entire town. She collared--not literally, since the nurses would've thrown fits--a few random citizens along the way, asked as many inconspicuous sounding questions as possible, and then moved on. Wash, rinse, repeat. Sneaking a few covert glimpses into stores and windows

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[demon_beast]

She hadn't seen Roland as she'd got off the bus, but there had been so many people around that she wasn't really surprised. She'd find him soon though, she hoped. She was worried about him. If he'd been taken last night then he might be hurt. She hated that this place put him in that position. The other patients attacked him like he was a monster and it made her want to hurt them in retaliation. He was her Tribe.

She found herself walking further into town, the chill touching her skin, raising goosebumps which fascinated her for a moment. Odd. She didn't know that skin could react like that. Then again, there had been no weather in the Junkyard besides rain, and no weather in the Karma Society Dome or the underground city.

[For Roland]

[intoindra]

Roland was still a little stiff after the previous night, but he'd certainly done far more to those women than they had done to him. It was kind of disappointing, to be honest; even now, the rage of the demon was burning in his heart, having not found nearly enough of an outlet. He'd just have to rectify that later. Especially now that he had some seriously powerful weaponry.

For now, though, he needed to find Argilla, as he'd promised to take her for lunch and a manicure, things that normal people should be allowed to do. Which meant, after a bit of searching, he found a nurse who pointed him in the right direction- the Twin Pine Restaurant, perfect!

He made his way there, and he saw Argilla standing outside. In short order he walked up to her, offering a tiny smile. "Hey, sorry for not finding you earlier... Are you well?"

[demon_beast]

Argilla's face brightened when she saw Roland approaching her, smiling back at him happily, the relief clear. "I'm fine. My arm is all bumpy though," she said, peering down at her skin once again for a moment. "I was worried about you last night. You didn't turn up." There was no reproach in her voice. She knew what must have happened since he was here now. "Do you need any healing?" she added after a moment, her concern showing. If he was injured, then she wasn't going to just let him remain so.

[intoindra]

"...goose bumps," Roland answered with a quiet smile, "it's the muscles in your skin tightening up in the cold. They'll go away when we get inside."

As for the offer of healing... her magic was a resource he couldn't really afford to squander. If they ran into something more deadly, then he would want to keep her ready to take care of those wounds. So, he simply said, "I got banged up a little bit, but nothing too bad. They didn't hurt me as bad as I hurt myself."

[dawn_rune]

Of the two places they could choose to get food, this was the one Frey suspected he would prefer. He had never actually gotten around to getting lunch the previous week, so he couldn't say for sure what the other place was like, but the smell around it had been of grease and fried things. This place seemed much nicer, though still well outside Frey's experiences. "What do you think, Takaya?"

[for Takaya]

[forgot_my_life]

Takaya looked around, then shrugged and nodded. "Looks a hell of a lot better than the other place." Not that Takaya didn't like burgers, but he usually ate them with his friends and with the other Kanshousha and he didn't want to think about them now.

Besides, this place seemed to appeal to Kagetora, so there was less of a chance of an outburst. ... he hoped.

"Let's grab a place to sit."

[dawn_rune]

Frey wasn't sure what the brief, strange look on Takaya's face meant, and he didn't think he should ask. Prying only ever made Takaya clam up all the more. So instead, Frey just nodded in return and looked for somewhere for them to sit. The place wasn't very big, and was filling up a bit, but there were still tables where two people could sit. Finding a table set against one wall--no corner tables were left, so it was the best he could do--Frey gestured to it, trying to draw Takaya's attention. "There?" It wasn't in the middle of the room, at least, where every passing person would come within arm's reach of Takaya.

[forgot_my_life]

Takaya looked down Frey's line of sight and nodded. Looked like a good enough place to him. He headed in that direction, never straying too far from Frey's side as they walked.

At one point, an older man got a bit too close for his liking and Takaya tensed up, moving to the side, and brushed his hand against Frey. He didn't flinch or react at the touch, but he was careful to not get too close to anyone else until they got to their table.

[fear_attachment]

Chidori was quite glad that Junpei brought her here for their 'date', and not to the other place they had coupons for--"Tasty Burger" did not, in fact, sound very tasty to her.

So far, they had mostly just walked around looking in windows at the things they couldn't buy, and gathering suspicious looks from the staff and the town natives alike. There hadn't even really been anything worth drawing, except Junpei, and Chidori never drew him when he was actually watching. The drawing that Kibitoshin had messed up on the bus was still just a series of vague lines--this was probably the first day in many years on which Chidori hadn't completed even one drawing.

"Do we just find a table, or wait to be seated?" Chidori didn't know much about places like this.

[whos_da_man]

As uneventful as window shopping was, Junpei actually kind of enjoyed it. Not that he'd ever admit to it for fear of losing his man card, but he probably would have done anything to just be walking around with his girlfriend. It also gave him a chance to see if there were any places secluded enough to maybe see if he really could talk Chidori into making out in the bushes. Yeah, they might get caught but that was half the thrill.

"I think this is a sit-yourselfer," he replied, casting a look around and not seeing one of those Please wait to be seated signs. He picked a table and sat down, coupon already out on the tabletop. This was better than that fast food joint. It was a better atmosphere for Chidori and, though something that reminded him of Wild Duck Burger would have been yummy, he didn't think his girl could stomach the grease; she didn't eat enough as it was.

"So, whatcha think of the town? It's the first time I've ever been in an American town."

[fear_attachment]

"It's very quiet." Chidori wasn't sure what to make of the town. It was very small, but that didn't account for everything about it that seemed off, somehow. She hadn't seen one newspaper anywhere. That didn't seem right. "It doesn't feel like it's really part of the real world, does it?" Maybe Junpei would think she was crazy for saying so, but there was something about this place that reminded Chidori more of Tartarus than Port Island.

[whos_da_man]

"Hmm... you're kind of right," Junpei replied. "It's too... I dunno. Like storybookish or something. Too perfect."

He shrugged. "I didn't see one person smoking, no trash on the ground and none of the people who lived here were arguing and stuff. At least you'd think there'd be some stupid grade-school kids out trying to show they were brave by picking on the crazies, you know?"

[paper_murdock]

Matt really didn't like the strong smell of grease and teenage cooks at the 'Tasty Burger', and decided to try the other place in town for lunch. He wouldn't have bothered, but he'd refused the food they'd given him and given it to another patient instead. Didn't catch their name, but they'd been thankful all the same.

Cane tapping out in front of him, he followed the directions he'd been given and walked into the 'Twin Pines'... and promptly caught, just under the scent of food, a familiar smell.

"Coming or going?" He'd been worried about Peter, and this could be a good chance to find out how he was doing.

[paper_murdock]

Matt tilted his head slightly so that he could focus a bit better on Peter and smiled. His gaze was just slightly to the left of Parker's shoulder. "Well, honestly I didn't come in here looking for you." He gave a half smile. "But I would know you anywhere." Now that he'd gotten his scent at least.

"So, would you like to eat with me? It's not nearly as nice eating alone. Or were you just leaving?" He didn't want to force the kid to talk to him, at least not in public.

[razing_phoenix]

That attempt to talk to Celes had failed miserably, although Guy had at least been able to see for himself that she was feeling better. There also hadn't been a chance for her to ask too much about how far they'd gotten last night, which might be for the best. Dias could always explain it to her

[gald_digger]

[aaaaa sorry, edit for reading comprehension fail, this is why I shouldn't post right after waking up]After parting ways with the doctor, Anise spent a little more time wandering around town and taking a look at the shop windows. Her gift from the doctor, a delicate, high-quality doll with blonde curls and a pink dress, was kept safely in her arms in front of her

[razing_phoenix]

Guy really should have been used to Anise sneaking up on him in this way, and yet he ended up falling for it every single time. He couldn't help that she managed to weasel her way next to him while barely making a sound, could he? Her voice was the first indication of her presence - he registered what she said before he registered where she was, but the two realizations happened so close to each other that his response was more or less instantaneous

[gald_digger]

Even if she hadn't been able to jump him or anything especially fun, the reaction was still very satisfying. Anise watched Guy with a bright smile as he struggled to regain his composure. While she was happy that he had been making a lot of progress in overcoming his phobia, the truth was that she was also a little happy that she could still get reactions like that out of him. It was so much fun!

She did feel a little bad though, so she did him the generous favor of mustering up enough self-control to keep herself from giggling at him.

And she was also kind enough to go right to answering his question without any commentary on the spectacle! Really, Guy was lucky to have such a thoughtful friend. "Well, all things considered," meaning that no matter what happened at Landel's, she still much preferred to be anywhere else, "it's going great!" Between mooching off the doctor and getting to scare Guy, her day was definitely off to a good start. "How about you